Unexpected Revelations
by lbindner
Summary: Things never go as expected. Diego's things are no different. And what happens next is really unexpected.
1. Chapter 1

Unexpected Revelations by Linda Bindner

A/N: Thank you so much to mmkbrook, yeahsureyoubetcha, and KatieZfan for being such excellent betas - I owe ya one!(or two... or three... or a hundred)

A/N2: This fic is already finished, and comes in 14 parts and an epilogue.

Part I: Victoria

"Diego," Victoria said.

He instantly looked up at her quiet voice, his lunch and the rest of the tavern forgotten.

This unspoken encouragement urged her to continue, despite the racing of her heart and an overwhelming feeling of nausea. "I need to talk to you. Can you meet me at _The Guardian_ office at the beginning of siesta?"

His forehead furrowed in wrinkles. "Yes, of course. But is something wrong?" His hand snaked out to curl around her right wrist in comfort, the concern in his voice unmistakable, even with his tone pitched low to match hers.

"Of course not," she replied with a false brightness. "I..." Victoria's smile was faltering already. "I just need... to talk to you." Her following swallow was hard and painful.

He'd clearly seen the gesture, and just as clearly didn't know what she meant by it. "Whatever you need," Diego assured her, obviously worried now, but endeavoring not to show it. His gaze raked over her form: was he looking for obvious injuries? "Does this have something to do with the Emissary's visit?"

Ah, that was it - Emissary Risendo had called her in for questioning, and Diego must be concerned about that. "It doesn't have anything to do with the Emissary," she assured him, though she thought she'd already confided that she was unhurt due to her time spent with Risendo. And it was true that the government man's eventful visit to the pueblo had been followed by an equally eventful month, but she hadn't received any injuries during that time, either. She was fairly certain that it had proven to be more eventful for _him_ than for her.

Victoria added, "I just need to talk to you." She understood that such vagueness would only make him worry even more, but she couldn't be more specific in such a public place as the tavern. All she could do was ask to speak to him, then hope for the best. She added a smile to her request, hoping to put him more at ease.

The smile strained across her face, and Diego frowned; her smile clearly did nothing to soothe his taut nerves. He didn't bother to return her smile, but simply gave a wordless nod. Lest he grow even more concerned, she rapidly disappeared into the lunch crowd at the tavern.

 _Well,_ _this is it. No more backing out,_ Victoria fiercely instructed herself as she wove and bobbed through the crowd like the pro that she was. She was glad for the distraction, as serving lunch kept her from thinking too much, and experience dictated that time free for thinking was definitely her enemy. How many times in the previous months had she been in this exact same position, wanting desperately to say something to him, only to change her mind at the last minute? Her silence was causing guilt to eat away at her, making a hole of considerable size in her heart. If she wanted to banish that hole at long last, then she would have to end this round of silence on her part.

Victoria refused to let herself dwell on what she planned to do. She just couldn't back out now - not this time. She would never be able to forgive herself. _He_ would never forgive her. That single thought kept her focused and determined. By concentrating on his perceived reaction, Victoria was able to get through another lunch rush without changing her mind yet again.

At long last, siesta arrived. Victoria was able to shoo out her final customers and close the tavern without inciting any undue suspicion. Maria and Alicia, her daytime employees, retired to their own homes for the hours of downtime, leaving her to lock up behind them.

But the second that Alicia vanished around the blacksmith's shop, and Maria disappeared into the alley that led to the house she shared with her aging mother, Victoria stopped in locking the back door. Instead, she slipped through the small opening that she'd left and anxiously glanced around. Appearing too nervous would only attract unwanted attention, so she took a shivery breath in a last attempt to calm her racing heart before that organ exploded out of her chest.

The office assigned to the pueblo newspaper appeared deserted, but Victoria didn't let that deter her. It often seemed empty - that only meant Diego was most likely inside, but lost in thought about an article he was writing, or daydreaming about a painting he planned to start, or contemplating the Alcalde's newest tax, or any number of other things that concerned the caballero. Victoria had long since given up on remembering everything that Diego might have on his mind. His distractions were so numerous, she wondered how he kept them all straight in his head. She, who took food and drink orders for many hungry customers like it was nothing, would never be able to keep straight all that Diego dealt with on a daily basis.

Determined, she crossed the short distance to _The Guardian_ office and entered the building with an air of extreme nonchalance.

"Victoria!" Diego jumped up from the chair that he occupied behind his desk. The room was shrouded in semidarkness, lending credence to her suspicion that he had been thinking while waiting for her. For some reason, the thought gave her comfort now.

He helped her to sit in one of the chairs fronting his small desk. "What can I do for you?"

Victoria jumped back up the minute he sat down again. "Diego," she began in a wooden voice. Her fingers found a loose thread in her skirt's waistband and nervously rubbed it back and forth. "Thank you for meeting me. You must be worried to death by now."

"Concerned, not 'worried to death,'" he confessed with a bland smile smoothing the wrinkles from his face. "Is something..?"

"I should have told you so much sooner than this," she burst out, interrupting his polite question. Afraid she would clam up if given the chance, she rushed to say, "Iknowwhoyouare."

Silence followed this outburst. Diego looked at Victoria not with the horror she had always predicted, but with a decided lack of comprehension. Perhaps she had spoken so fast that he hadn't understood her?

Confirmation to that fear came when his confusion made him inquire, "You know... what?"

Victoria sighed, suddenly realizing that this moment would not be as utterly monumental for him as it would be for her simply because she knew what she was talking about and he didn't. "I'm not explaining this well," she muttered, and said it again, slower this time, "I know who you are."

The skin around Diego's eyes crinkled endearingly as his confusion increased. "Who I am," he repeated, his voice as slow as hers. "What does that mean?"

And he truly did look as if he didn't know what Victoria meant. But there was only one thing she could mean - and she knew it, and she knew that he did, too. Either he truly was dense, he was the greatest actor in the world to pretend ignorance at this monumental juncture, or he had so convinced himself that this moment would never arrive that he was honestly flummoxed now that it had.

In any event, she would have to try again, and this time be as specific as possible so that he wouldn't misunderstand. "I know you're Zorro." Victoria fully anticipated that his horror would now set in at her words.

Instead of horror, Diego still just looked highly perplexed, leaving her feeling unsatisfied and oddly foolish. "You think I'm Zorro."

"I don't think you are, I know you are."

Again he paused before slowly echoing, "You know I am."

Victoria closed her eyes against the glare of the sun filtering through the one window in the room. Closed eyes made this confession much easier for her. "I know that I should have said something long ago, but..."

"Victoria, I'm not Zorro."

The mildness of Diego's protest washed over her, trailing a convincing cloud of doubt. He sounded so sure, so sincere, that she would have instantly believed him... if she didn't know better.

Opening her eyes, she confessed, "I know this puts you in so much danger - and you're in enough danger as it is - and I..."

"Victoria." Diego rose from his chair to draw closer to her, his hands reaching out to soothe away what he clearly perceived as insanity. "I think you need to sit down. The heat..."

Suddenly incensed, she threw off his hands and glared at him. "Don't do that!" she hotly demanded. "Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to even say this? How much I've wanted to..?"

"I know how badly you want Zorro's identity," he calmly said, "but this isn't the way to find it. I can't help you to..."

"Don't treat me like a child, Diego!" Her glare intensified. "Zorro is about honor, respect, and chivalry! But right now, there's not an ounce of honor in you. You're truly disappointing me, and I never thought I would say that!"

For the briefest moment, something like regret flashed across his blue eyes, but then it was gone, and his blandness firmly reasserted itself. "I'm sorry if I'm disappointing you, but truly Victoria, you've got this all wrong. I'm not..."

"I saw you, Diego," she breathed in a monotone. "I saw everything." And she wished she hadn't. If she hadn't, she would have continued to be blissfully unaware of the danger he encountered every time he did nothing but visit her at night in her kitchen. But after that particular incident, she knew that every time she saw Zorro, it could be Diego's last day alive. Perhaps he thought that the danger being Zorro put him in was acceptable, but she didn't.

However, it was obvious now that she was going to have to say more than simply 'I know;' that look of confused helplessness he had perfected over the years still lingered at the corners of his eyes. In the next breath, she found herself explaining the whole thing. "I was invited for supper one night to your hacienda, and while looking for you to drive me home after dinner, I came around the corner from the dining room just as you and Felipe went through the fireplace in the library." Victoria was glad to note that she had Diego's full attention by then. "I waited for you to come back, but when you didn't, I started to get worried. So I tried to follow you. Only I couldn't open the door in the fireplace again."

His look turned more wary than bland. "Were you ever able to open this mythical door in my fireplace?"

Relief shot through Victoria; his questioning showed that he believed her... sort of. At least he didn't immediately think she'd lost her sanity. Using the most convincing tone she could muster, she said, "No, not at first. I was sure I'd been dreaming. And it's not like I was so often a guest at your hacienda that the opportunity to prove myself right or wrong happened every day. But I looked when I could. I paid attention. And then, I saw you do it again."

She could interpret his watchful silence in so many ways. But she wasn't dreaming the extreme care with which he chose his following words. "Going through a hidden door doesn't mean anything. It certainly doesn't mean that I'm Zorro."

Victoria couldn't deny the truth of what he said. "No, it doesn't. But what happened next does."

Wariness had definitely invaded his blue eyes. "What happened next?"

Victoria was pained at her admittance, but admitted it nonetheless. "I thought I was going crazy. But I saw how you pressed something on the mantel before you disappeared through the door. I found the button, but I didn't push it. If it led to your private place, I didn't want to suddenly burst into it. So I waited for you to come back, and I was going to tease you about it when you did. I waited so long, but you never did come back. So I... followed."

"You followed." It came out as a statement.

Victoria nodded. "I went through the door. There was a short corridor - you know that. I stopped at some steps when I heard your voice - I still thought of this as your special place, and I didn't want to intrude, but I wanted to make sure you were all right. When I peeked around the corner, I saw the cave."

"Cave?" Amazingly enough, Diego was still able to act like he didn't understand her reference.

"Yes, the cave." His lack of outward comprehension was beginning to aggravate her, and her clipped tone showed it. "I saw Felipe holding Zorro's mask and hat out to you." She endeavored to soften her tone to something less confrontational. "I saw Toronado."

"That still doesn't..."

"And I saw you," she quietly intoned. "Reaching out to Felipe, dressed like Zorro... without the mask."

Finally her words prodded him to gave a nervous swallow. "What did I do then?"

Relief encompassed Victoria at the hint of confession crossing his eyes. But the relief was short lived when she realized she was witnessing fear rather than confession. "You put on the mask, smiled at something Felipe signed, promised not to hurt the Alcalde too much, jumped onto Toronado, and rode out a door at the back of the cave."

His guarded expression grew even more guarded as he asked, "When was this?"

A familiar feeling of guilt shot through Victoria, and she swung her head down so she wouldn't have to look at him. "A long time ago."

He paused, and she thought he hadn't heard her whisper until he asked, "How long?"

She didn't answer. She couldn't. The truth was, she wasn't even sure. She'd been so shocked at the time that she hadn't noted the date. It was amazing that she'd been together enough to figure out how to get back into the library without Felipe discovering her. Since that fateful day, so much time had passed that she couldn't be sure any longer when it had happened. "Long enough for me to feel guilty that I didn't tell you... or Felipe... right away. Then, it got easier and easier to say nothing - for a long time." She hated the way he was staring at her now, so wary, so careful, but at the same time, so tired.

She was tired too; tired of waiting for him to say something to her, of worrying when he didn't, of wondering if remaining silent was the right thing to do when time went by and he never mentioned his secret, of constantly worrying if the Alcalde knew, and barring that, of doing her utmost to insure that he didn't, of trying to work out if Don Alejandro knew, if Sergeant Mendoza knew, if Felipe would ever say anything. The exhaustion of 'knowing' swamped her again in seconds.

But what that exhaustion made her say surprised her as much as it seemed to surprise him. "When you proposed as the man and not the legend... do you remember that? I said 'yes' because I knew who was really asking."

For the first time, the mask of indifference that Diego typically wore trembled, and finally cracked. "Whaaaat?"

She shook her head back and forth, barely hearing him. "It's all my fault. I should have told you. I was scared that if you knew that I knew..." She paused as her emotions surged. "It's my fault," she repeated on a distraught whisper aimed at the floor. "You were in such danger from the Emissary, and I... I was just so stupid. I either didn't take the time to understand what was happening to you, or too busy saying things I I knew would make him angry. I should have just kept my mouth shut." She glanced up to beseech him one last time. "I thought I was doing the right thing, I truly did, but..." Misery soaked her voice, and she was certain that he could not forgive her for all the trouble she'd caused this time. "I'm sorry."

He didn't move. She could feel him standing still where he'd been standing during most of her confession. He was probably too stunned to move, too sickened at what she was telling him to do anything but breath, too disappointed in her to react any other way. The next thing she knew, he would be asking for his ring back, and she wouldn't blame him. How could he be engaged to someone he couldn't trust? Trust meant everything to him, and she'd broken it, in the worst way possible.

Victoria waited for him to say something. He was quiet for so long that she wondered if he was again going to take refuge in pretending ignorance of everything she was referring to.

If he did that, she was sure that her heart would break into tiny pieces; that would only prove that he definitely felt he couldn't trust her with the truth. At the same time, she didn't think she could handle it if he tried to continue with the ruse he'd been relying on for years. It was part of that ruse for her to be dumb to his true self, but it was only her inability to speak up that had ensured how dumb she really was. Why hadn't she spoken out as soon as she'd had the chance? He would be so much safer than he was right now. But if there was one thing that was consistent in all this, it was her ability to make the worst decision possible. Honestly, she was no better than Luis Ramone!

So when he enfolded her in his arms and hugged her with all his hidden strength, she was as surprised as it was possible to be.

Go on to part 2. (coming soon)

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	2. Chapter 2

Part II: de Soto

Quietly, de Soto joined Diego de la Vega in the Los Angeles cemetery at the grave of Gilberto Risendo, Diego's long lost brother... and the man de Soto had killed. A silent moment went by as the two contemplated the Spanish Emissary and brother interred beneath the mound of dirt.

It was de Soto's conversational statement that finally broke the silence. "I'm surprised you chose not to bury him on your own property, next to your mother."

Diego's head whipped up at the sound of a voice intruding on his private moment, but when he realized who had spoken, his grimace dissolved. "Ignacio," he greeted. "Yes, my father and I discussed putting him next to Mother. But... this man was not Father and Mother's son, not my brother... not a de la Vega, in short. He was Emissary Risendo. Gilberto de la Vega is buried in our hearts." A wry smile twisted his lips at the sappy image he'd just drawn. "We decided that burying him here would raise fewer awkward questions. Who he was in reality is nobody's business but our own."

de Soto tried to be respectful by mirroring Diego's sorrowful pose. "That's true. Eccentric, but true."

As if wanting to distract himself from reacting to such a negative description, Diego instantly asked, "Why are you here?" When de Soto didn't say more, the gentle caballero uncharacteristically allowed his tone to grow bitter. "Have you decided to regale me yet one more time with the story of how you killed my brother?"

But de Soto was hardly perturbed by Diego's unfriendly tone. "As you know, it was either kill your brother, or watch him kill you." The Alcalde studied the imperturbable Diego. "Would you rather I had waited? Not fired at all?" When Diego still didn't respond, Ignacio added, "Never mind - it's not important, anyway. What is important is that I've watched you stand here like this at the same time, every day, for a month. And I'm glad it led me to you; I'd like to talk to you."

"Really?" Diego seemed so surprised by this statement that his voice lost its unfriendly sound. "What do you need?"

Now that de Soto had been invited to begin, he wasted no time, instead confidently stating, "I know who you are."

To Diego's acting credit, he only glanced at the Alcalde. "Who I am?"

Ignacio scowled at his companion's apparent confusion. "Don't play coy with me."

Diego snorted, an oddly common noise for such a cultured man to make. "What are you talking about?"

So this was how it was going to be - he might have guessed. de Soto's sad sigh washed over the quiet grounds of the graveyard. "You of all people know what it means to make another man angry."

Diego's own sigh mixed with Ignacio's. "Again, what do you mean?"

Ignacio's gaze raked over Diego standing serenely at his side. "I should think that was obvious... Zorro."

The accusation had been a shock attempt on de Soto's part, but it clearly hadn't worked; the caballero was anything but shocked. In fact, he seemed sleepier now than he had been before, his familiar bland smile creeping slowly over his features. "You're dreaming again. I'm not Zorro. _You_ of all people know I'm nothing like him."

"True," Ignacio conceded. "But then, you wouldn't be, would you?" His expression grew amazed as he considered how anyone could ever be clever enough to fool a de Soto. "Your disguise is perfect. It always has been. You had me fooled for two years. It would have fooled me for ten more... if I hadn't figured you out."

"How did this supposed event occur?" Diego's mild interest would have convinced anyone of his innocence.

But de Soto wasn't just anyone. "It isn't important _what_ happened, but how long I've known."

Diego didn't take the bait that the Alcalde had left for him. He simply waited, and the silence of the graveyard grew to become an entity itself.

That silence finally wore on de Soto, who was never the most patient of men. Bending over slightly so that he could look Diego straight in the eye, he whispered, "I've known for a month."

Diego's bland expression didn't even flicker.

At this non-reaction, de Soto determined to rush to the very heart of his confession. "I've decided to do nothing."

That did it; Diego's bland veneer cracked just ever so slightly. "You've been thinking this way for a whole month... and decided to do nothing?"

de Soto bobbed his head once in confirmation.

The innocence gone now, Diego only looked confused. "You've always said that you would hang anyone that you even suspected of being Zorro. Though I'm not Zorro, why have you not tried to hang me?"

de Soto pensively assessed Diego standing so serenely beside him, realizing that this naive looking man was going to give nothing more away, no matter what he said. Saying nothing to persuade him otherwise, de Soto let the silence drag on for several moments, unbroken by anything more significant than the occasional bird cry, a barking dog, and the cluck of a chicken.

When that lack of noise had built to a level of strident intensity, de Soto at last quietly explained, "Zorro saved my life - and I saved yours. Now we're even."

Without a backward glance, he walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

Part III Don Alejandro

"Diego," Don Alejandro thoughtfully said that evening as he and his son were riding back from having dinner at the tavern. "I'd like to talk to you."

Diego obligingly reigned in Esperanza till Alejandro drew alongside him on Dulcinea; the horses continued their sedate walk towards the hacienda. "What is it, Father?"

The lightness of Diego's tone was reassuring in that he suspected nothing of the importance of the forthcoming conversation. Encouraged, Alejandro was about to continue, when Diego beat him to it.

"Does this have something to do with the cattle sale next week?" A conciliatory expression crossed Diego's face. "You already traveled to Monterey to check the territorial sale prices, and the vaqueros have rounded up the cattle meant to be sold." Suddenly he smiled. "Felipe told me that when the two of you were in Monterey, you saw..."

"That doesn't matter," his father interjected, suddenly impatient now that he had decided to speak. "The sale will be fine. This has to do with... something else."

"Something else?"

Misgiving was loud in the simple question. "Yes." Alejandro gulped a breath, then let it hiss nervously between his teeth. "Do you remember that day you told me you're also... him?" He would have whispered that last word except they were currently doing the one activity that insured their privacy.

Diego gave a rueful smile. "Of course I remember it, but..."

"But..." Alejandro interrupted again, a guilty look now twisting his features. "Ialreadyknew," he divulged in a rush.

Diego clearly understood his father's words, despite the way they'd been spoken. He now sat, stunned, an unmoving lump on his horse, his face contorted with complete incredulity. "You already knew?" he repeated in a voice that sounded lost, as if this wasn't the first time that day he'd heard this confessed.,. a clearly ridiculous idea. Alejandro exprected him to explain what his empty, almost desperate tone meant, but instead, he carefully asked, "How long... have you known?"

At a loss, Alejandro could only reply, "I hardly know how to answer that."

Diego helplessly repeated, "'You hardly know...' What does that mean?"

Don Alejandro sighed a sad, recriminatory gust of air, and slowly said, "It means that... I've known for..." But his voice trailed off into another pensive silence. Only the clop of the animals made any noise in that silent time between day and night until Alejandro's voice issued out of him almost against his will, "The knowledge came on so gradually; sometimes the idea seemed so ridiculous... and at others, so obvious."

"Obvious?"

It was clear the Diego must now be considering the Alcalde, and Alejandro didn't blame him; Diego always needed to think about the Alcalde, every minute of every day. For the first time, he understood how wearing that must be.

"Was it so obvious that others figured this out, too?"

Alejandro's graying hair swung madly in the fading sunlight as he shook his head. "Not that I know. But then, I didn't exactly go around advertising what I knew, either."

Diego sighed his own gust of air, not quite sounding reassured, but not sounding angry, either. It settled Don Alejandro's nerves just a bit.

"What you're saying is that there was no one thing that led you to believe...?"

Alejandro's snort exploded so loudly that it caught Diego by surprise, not an easy task. "No, I should say not. Most times, I thought I was going crazy." He looked squarely at his son. "But I'm an old man - it's almost a given that I'll go crazy someday."

Diego groaned. "Not the 'I'm an old man' routine again."

The expression in Diego's eyes definitely said more than he was saying aloud, probably noting that his thoughts were on his father's very tiresome secondary desire to see his grandchildren someday. _Well, at least I now know why I don't have any,_ was the thought that ghosted through Alejandro's mind even as he insistently protested, "This isn't meant to be a guilt trip."

Diego practically rolled his eyes in mock relief. "How refreshing."

Alejandro did his best to take on the look of the reprimanding parent, but couldn't quite squash the grin that wanted to burst out of him. "Yes... well, how was I to know that you had the proper interest, just not the proper conditions?" he feebly asked. Then he shook his head again, as if to clear it of all these extraneous thoughts. "But I want to talk about what I know, not... you know."

Diego seemed amused at his Father's vagueness. "Yes, well... moving on."

"I always meant to tell you about... when."

"You just said that you don't know when."

Alejandro's sigh was reluctant now... and condemnatory? "I sort of know... when. I did know what discovery meant for you. So I... might have... possibly... said some things that might have... hurt you... especially if we were ever with anybody... so it would seem ridiculous that you were... you know."

This was clearly something that Diego had never considered before. The blankness of his face increased even as his surprise grew. "Let me get this straight," he requested after a moment. "You're telling me that you..."

"I purposely hurt you, yes," Alejandro now boldly clarified.

Diego woodenly continued, "So that my disguise was... better?"

Alejandro gave a halfhearted shrug. "Better... more believable... that was the idea."

A moment of quiet went by as Diego internalized what this meant. Alejandro had no idea what he was thinking, and that bothered him. He didn't think he'd ever truly get used to the fact that his son had this secret life that he could barely even imagine - he'd rarely felt so estranged from his son than in that moment. It was ironic that he'd had to learn of Diego's secret before feeling so isolated. "I just wanted to tell you... so that you know... so that, maybe, there's no hard feelings between us?"

"There never were any hard feelings between us." The brief but pained expression that shot through Diego's eyes belied what he'd just insisted.

Alejandro was on the verge of arguing with him, saying that he knew better, when he realized that there was no benefit in arguing: what did he want Diego to do, anyway? Agree with him? Lie and disagree? He was doing that already. The old caballero was amazed that Diego's lie sounded so sincere - how many other lies had he so convincingly told? It was a chilling thought.

There was so much he most likely would never know, and even if he knew it, he probably wouldn't fully understand. That was the moment the enormity of his only child's secret hit him. He sighed again in regret, not for the dangers facing his son every day, but for the life he could have had now, but didn't. He may be sad about the early death of his wife, his current lack of grandchildren, and enraged about the injustices of two crooked Alcaldes, but he'd never really had anything to regret before.

Now, he did. Truly, Alejandro had never felt so old.


	4. Chapter 4

Part IV Zorro and the Padre

 _This is growing far too easy._

The last thought still echoed in Zorro's mind as he carefully snuck up behind the one bandit the others had left awake on guard duty. Zorro assumed that the man wearing scruffy clothes was supposed to make certain his three compadres stayed safe as they slept, all the while making doubly certain that no other outlaws mistook their fire for an invitation to attack them in the dark. His third duty was to make sure that Zorro didn't sneak up on them and do exactly what he was planning to do anyway: capture them.

To that end, Zorro knew that taking out the guard before he was able to alert the others to his presence was absolutely necessary. How he did it was not necessary, but it sure was fun!

Zorro slowly made his way to the area of boulders collected just to the guard's left. When he had gained a shadowy place among the rocks that kept the light of the fire from reflecting off the unmasked portion of his face, he softly scuffed his boots back and forth on the rocky path. As had worked many times before, the guard broke out of his protective crouch to investigate. Zorro instantly melted into the deeper shadow of the surrounding rocks, leaving the guard to scratch his head in perplexity, wondering just where that noise he'd heard was coming from. He never suspected the source of the noise to be standing right behind him, a black, ether soaked cloth already in hand.

It was the work of a second for Zorro to snake his left arm around the man's neck while his right hand held the cloth firmly to the man's nose and mouth. The cloth muffled the guard's shouts for help to sound more like unintelligible grunts as he thrashed for a few seconds, then went limp, and Zorro slowly lowered him to the ground. Smiling, the masked man straightened to make certain that Toronado could see his command to wait before once again fading into the surrounding darkness.

He dispatched another of the sleeping men a moment later in the same way. The third bandit didn't even wake up to give any kind of a struggle when Zorro thrust the cloth over his mouth and nose, but the groans of the second bandit had roused the fourth. Zorro moved quickly before he could start any trouble.

"Juan!" the man called into the dark. "Jimee! Alonzo! Uff!"

Zorro's glove met the man's stubbly jaw at that moment, and he almost fell into the still burning fire as he joined his friends in unconsciousness. Zorro shook the pain out of his stinging fist as he then tucked the ether-soaked cloth back into his black sash. "Their jaws are getting harder all the time... or I'm getting old," he mused aloud, noting that punching a man in the jaw hadn't made his hand hurt this much just a few years ago. Ignoring the pain in his knuckles, he hauled the outlaw he'd punched closer to his friends. "Let's get you boys wrapped for your trip to Los Angeles."

First, he washed any lingering ether fumes off his gloves using the soap he'd specifically brought along just for that purpose. Then, he let his shrill whistle split the cool night air, and Toronado's whinny sounded pleasantly nearby where he'd asked the stallion to stay. Now he allowed the sound of the great horse to lead him in the correct direction of the guard that he'd first knocked unconscious. He swiftly bound the man and carried him back to the fire, located the bandit's horses picketed in a clearing of grass, loaded all four bandits onto the waiting animals' backs, tied their hands to their feet under the horses' bellies, and left them hanging practically upside down as he carved his signature letter 'Z' into the back of their vests with the tip of his sword. Once finished, he critically surveyed his work: he'd successfully captured the four bandits wanted for robbing the Monterey coach, and hadn't shed a single drop of blood in order to do it - a good night's work. Satisfied, he gathered the reins of the four horses in his hands, climbed aboard Toronado, then cantered the entire group toward the pueblo.

Increasingly, Zorro found that his activities had restricted themselves to the apprehension of outlaws in the dark of night rather than fighting the oppression of the Spanish subjects he'd sworn to protect. The Alcalde's behavior ever since that horrifying experience under Emissary Risendo's rule had grown increasingly benign until his senseless taxation was just a rotten memory of the past. Old taxes had been repealed, and no new taxes had been instated. It was as if de Soto's political ambition had been smothered out of him by the events that took place while the Emissary was in Los Angeles. And now, after Diego's talk with de Soto in the graveyard earlier that day, he understood the reasons behind this puzzling behavior of the Alcalde's.

Of course, de Soto hadn't pardoned Zorro, hadn't really freed him from the Spanish bounty on his head, but the fact that Zorro could now concentrate on capturing bandits rather than becoming a captured bandit himself made his life so much simpler. He no longer had to ride out in defense of the people, unless those people were bedeviled by outlaws like the four scruffy characters that he was currently leaving at the cuartel's hitching post. He made certain that the tied horses had food and water to last the night, and that the bandits were firmly trussed to their mounts, but other than that, let them hang to be discovered by the lancers in the morning. There was no call for his arrest that he had to thwart just to get out of the pueblo, no men he had to punch, no resistance at all. Truly, this was getting to be so easy that he was almost growing bored.

Zorro had vaulted onto Toronado's waiting back and turned his head in the direction of home and a well deserved handful of oats when his attention was arrested by a faint glow of light flickering from the walled-in garden located behind the mission. Curious as to who could possibly be awake at this time of night, Zorro nudged Toronado to the mission wall instead of directing him out of the pueblo. When a roof ledge was right above him, he boosted himself onto the tiled roof, letting Toronado roam free again, then made his way carefully across the roof to the back of the mission. He slipped around the end of the bell tower just as the odd strains of a hooting sound reached his ears.

Peeking over the adobe edge of the roof and into the garden, Zorro was able to make out the form of Padre Benitez in the light of a single lantern. The man was dressed in his priest's robes and staring raptly into the garden's one tree. The hooting sound reached Zorro a second time, followed by the faint strains of an answering hoot coming from the lower branches of the tree.

The padre was clearly doing some late night bird watching... or in this case, owl watching. Zorro listened to the Padre's hooting call and the answering wail several times before the owl suddenly lifted off and flew in the direction of the ocean, easily visible in the sky lit by stars and moon. Zorro watched it go for a moment, doing nothing more than looking at how its wing span matched that of Toronado's shadow on the plaza ground as it passed overhead. His soft sigh allowed the tension of capturing bandits fly away with the owl.

"Señor Zorro," Padre Benitez quietly called up to him from the garden. "It is you. Come on down - you have nothing to fear in my garden... except perhaps eating rotten vegetables." He chuckled at his own bad joke, and stepped away from the tree to wait for Zorro as the bandit climbed down from his perch on the mission's roof. The soft thud of the masked man's boots sounded in the silence shrouding the garden as Zorro landed beside the Padre.

"Doing a little bird watching, I see," Zorro announced in a hushed voice sure not to awaken the mission's other inhabitants.

"I was owl watching, actually," the Padre corrected. "That owl has spent the last three nights in that tree, hooting loud enough to wake the dead... pardon the expression. Tonight I decided to join him rather than lie awake, listening to him." He laughed at his words. "I'm afraid I scared him off, much to everybody's delight, I'm sure."

"What kind of owl was it?" Zorro asked the robed man. "It was so large - much larger than the barn owls typical of California."

The Padre's scrunched nose was clear in the light from his lantern. "I'm not sure. I think it's called a cat owl; it was large, as you say. Did you see those tufts sticking out of his head?"

"Yes. Are they ears, do you suppose?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps they're just feathers sticking out of its head. Have you ever seen one so close to Los Angeles before?"

"No. I've seen only two in all my years of tracking at night, and those two were in more wooded areas."

Padre Benitez shrugged. "Well, that's one being of the night that you don't need to catch."

Zorro's smile came through in his voice as he visualized chasing the strange creatures across California. "Thank goodness! Toronado hates flying."

Benitez chuckled. "I feel lucky to have seen it, no matter what it was." His pronouncement finished, he turned to more fully face the bandit. "Now, what brings you to the pueblo at such a time of night?"

"I was just delivering a gift to the cuartel," Zorro quipped. "I was heading out of the pueblo when I heard you playing with our owl friend."

Padre Benitez chuckled anew. "Yes, he and I made quite the symphony."

"It was a true joy to listen to. But now that I know you're safe, I'll let you get to bed. Adios."

Zorro was about to jump back up to the mission roof when he felt an arresting hand on his arm. "Zorro, I'm glad you stopped by... I have something to tell you."

 _Not him too._ It seemed as if lately everybody had news for the man known as Zorro. "Yes?"

Thus prompted, Padre Benitez folded his hands into his robes to stand in a very contrite attitude. "I haven't thanked you yet for paying the missions' taxes to the Emissary. I guess that you now own the mission."

Zorro kept his smile glued to his face at the careless mention of the Spanish Emissary. He didn't want to get into a discussion about family relations when it wasn't common knowledge that he should even care who was related to the Emissary. "It was the de la Vega's money," Zorro said now. "I simply freed it from the bank. They own the mission more than I do."

Padre Benitez gazed at Zorro for another moment, still studying the masked man. "There are those who don't understand how you even knew those funds needed freeing."

Zorro cocked his head. "It's my business to know everything about everybody."

"True. But how did you know that the de la Vega funds had been impounded in the first place?"

Zorro cocked his head the other way. "As I said..."

The Padre gave an impatient wave of his hand. "Yes, yes, knowing things is your business."

When he didn't go on, Zorro leaned in the direction of the garden wall as if he needed to leave. "No thanks are necessary. I'm just glad there was no bloodshed. If that's all, I'll leave you and the de la Vega mission for the night." He turned to go.

The Padre's whispered words stopped him. "I just wanted you to know that was a very noble thing you did, Diego."

Zorro whipped back to face Benitez, but strove not to react any further to his true name. "Pardon me, Padre? Did you say something?"

Benitez looked up at Zorro, affirmation in his eyes. "Don't play coy with me, young man. Now is not the time."

Zorro again cocked his head, this time in confusion. "Coy? I assure you, Padre..."

"Assure me all you want. It was still a noble thing to do. I just wanted to personally thank you, Diego. Can you get your money back before the Emissary's Royal Guardsmen leave for Spain?"

Zorro's seeming confusion increased. "That's the second time you've called me a name other than 'Zorro.' Do you know something you're not telling me?"

Benitez chuckled as he replaced his hands in his robe. "I've known who you are for some years. I've simply never said anything before now."

That blunt confession stunned Zorro enough to make him openly gape at the holy man. "Forgive me... but I thought you just said...

"You heard correctly." The Padre's soft voice barely even reached Zorro, though he was standing right next to him. "I suppose now would be a good time to also thank you on the people's behalf. You've done an outstanding job in fulfilling your Christian duty these past years. I just worry that sense of duty may be your undoing."

This caught Zorro's attention in spite of his confusion. "What do you mean?"

Benitez's eyes lit up at Zorro's lack of argument about his claim, taking that lack as a form of confirmation. "So you admit to being... who you are."

"I didn't say that," Zorro maddeningly negated. "I was just asking for clarification."

Suddenly the Padre's friendly expression fell away. The hand that now wrapped around Zorro's arm to further arrest the bandit was like iron. "Stop this foolishness before you get fatally hurt, Diego."

Zorro looked even more confused. "This foolishness? I don't..."

"Yes, you do," the Padre insisted. "I'm speaking of your possible death, and how it affects your promise to the Señorita."

Zorro shook his head; this couldn't be happening. He was being scolded like a disobedient child by Padre Benitez. "She knows I will fulfill that promise as soon as I can remove this make. But it's not yet time to..."

"Your mask will come off when you want it to come off," Benitez unsympathetically retorted. "Why are you making her wait?"

 _Making_ her wait? "I'm not..."

"You must be afraid of something... what?"

Zorro suspiciously eyed the priest, and slowly argued, "Zorro fears nothing, particularly Victoria Escalante. The mask will come off when I'm certain that knowledge of my identity will do her no harm, and not a minute before. I'm not who you think I am. Buenos Noches." He sprang up, clambered over the mission roof, and disappeared into the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Part V: Felipe

"And like a prize idiot, I ran away." Diego dropped into the cave's desk chair to bitterly add, "Could I have _possibly_ done anything worse for the sake of my secret identity?"

Felipe listened with great sympathy as Diego's story of Zorro's most recent adventure with Padre Benitez continued. "Really!" he now expostulated to the patient Felipe. "I am such an idiot!" Diego let his head fall to the desk with a thud. His following groan of frustration made Felipe give a jump in the solitude of the cave, even though it was currently in the middle of the night, and the possibility of discovery was slim.

Now that he thought of it, Felipe wasn't sure that discovery mattered all that much any longer. It was one of the few things that Diego had always feared over the years, but now...

Felipe now knew for sure that Victoria knew of Zorro's secret identity. Diego had told him all about it before he and Don Alejandro had left for the tavern for supper. In fact, Felipe had been fairly certain of Victoria's unvalidated knowledge before she had revealed herself to Diego. There had just been too many side comments from her over the years for him to feel certain about any lack of knowledge on her part, too many pained looks at Diego after he'd turned away from her for Felipe to be at ease.

Now that he knew for sure that she knew, he couldn't decide how he felt about it. He had never really made himself consider what he would do if anyone ever discovered Diego's secret. He knew that he should have, but it had seemed like such a remote possibility, especially as the years had gone by and no one had ever solved the puzzle of Zorro's identity. Now, however, people who had solved the secret of Zorro's identity seemed to be surrounding them, and he still didn't know how to feel. He mostly just felt helpless.

To make matters worse, after Victoria had divulged that she knew Zorro's secret identity, de Soto had done the same in an astonishing act. The fact that he had chosen to do nothing about it was a veritable miracle. Siesta that day had been anything but restful for Diego.

Then came Don Alejandro's confession. And only a few hours later came the Padre's. Felipe found himself sharing the knowledge of Zorro's identity with at least four other people all in the same day! Discovery had always seemed like a dream that would _maybe_ happen in the very distant future, not all at once!

But that future was now, it would seem. Felipe still didn't know how he felt about that. He knew even less what he was going to do about it.

Not that it truly mattered what he did at all. It mattered what _Diego_ did. Oddly enough, Diego now had everything he'd ever wanted handed to him on a mythical platter of gold. Victoria knew, and hadn't rejected him. The Alcalde knew, and hadn't hanged him. Don Alejandro knew - Diego would no longer have to make those stupid, pathetic excuses as to why he needed to remain at the hacienda when trouble started brewing, which was a relief in itself.

And as to the Padre? It was unlikely that the religious man wanted anything but the best for one of his flock. He wouldn't tell, Felipe was sure. Without a bit of help from his main helper, Diego was in essence a free man.

That main helper grimaced at how superfluous he had suddenly become.

Diego had just lifted his head from the desktop, and saw his expression. "What is it, Felipe?"

Felipe grimaced again, but refused to say anything more. He wouldn't add to Diego's worries by telling him what was on his mind - it wasn't important enough to bother him with it now.

However, Felipe hadn't taken into account how dogged Diego could be when he felt someone was withholding information from him. "Felipe," he gently admonished, "you might as well tell me now - you know I'll just become more paranoid if you don't."

Felipe almost smiled at just the thought of a more paranoid Diego. If he didn't want Diego to shrivel up with worry, then he would have to open up to the older man.

Easier said than done.

Felipe rubbed at the back of his neck in an indication of how very much this situation bothered him. Then he waved his arms through the air, speaking in brusque, choppy gestures.

"Slow down, Felipe," Diego immediately said. "I can't follow you."

*That's the point,* Felipe waved.

Diego's forehead furrowed in confused wrinkles. "What is?"

*You can't follow my speech, and I can't follow you!*

Diego's confusion remained. "I'm not asking that you follow me. I'm asking that you tell me what to do."

A somber look carved into his face, Felipe shook his head back and forth.

"What do you mean 'no?'" Diego was hurt at his friend's reluctance, and his tone expressed that hurt.

Felipe grimace again. *I can't help you.*

This unexpected answer took Diego aback. "Can't, or won't?" came the suspicious question after a quiet moment.

Now it was Felipe's forehead that was wrinkled with worry lines. *Can't,* he instantly replied. It figured that Diego would not understand this one thing. *This is about your life, not mine. You must decide.*

As answers go, it was short and to the point. It was also clearly not to Diego's liking. "I don't know what to do," he reiterated. "That's what I thought we were discussing."

Again Felipe shook his head, and again Diego scowled.

"Felipe," Diego said, "I'm beginning to feel like you won't help, not that you can't."

Felipe definitely didn't want him to think that way. He finally settled on saying, *Victoria loves _you_ , not me.*

"So?"

*No good if I say what you must do,* Felipe pointed out. *She will know.*

"But you know how much I value your ideas," Diego replied, almost whining.

Again, Felipe gave a ghost of a smile, but remained firm. *I can't help,* he said again. *I wish I could.* Then he repeated the phrase, *Your life.*

"It's your life, too," Diego argued, his tone gentle in spite of their disagreement. "Whatever I decide to do has just as many repercussions for you as it does for me."

*But you're the only Zorro.*

There was no way Diego could argue that irrefutable fact. Yet he sighed in aggravation. "It's a pity that Zorro doesn't know what to do, either, or I would just ask him."

Felipe couldn't help it - he grinned, but said once more, *I wish I could help. I always help Zorro. But Zorro must do this alone.*

Diego's second sigh in as many minutes bounced off the cave walls. "Zorro doesn't like being alone."

Felipe now flashed a 'Z' in the air, shook his head, then pointed at Diego.

It was a gesture that made Diego sigh for a third time. "Diego doesn't like being alone any better."

Felipe scowled, then couldn't resist shaking his head to indicate that Diego wasn't alone. He waved another gesture into the air, this one with a definite feminine quality to it.

Diego swatted at him, but Felipe jumped out of his reach at the last minute. "Stop teasing."

Felipe pointed at himself, and shook his head, then pointed at Diego, and nodded. His sign for Victoria rounded out his argument. *Let her help.* Then he made his signs for Don Alejandro, for the Padre, and added, *Let them help, maybe even the Alcalde.*

Diego's nod was full of disbelief at the Alcalde doing anything that might help Zorro. "I'll think about it," he said as he stifled a yawn. "Why don't we both go to bed and sleep on this. Things always look better in the morning."

Felipe hoped that morning would bring enlightenment to his friend, but doubted that Diego would know what to do any more in a few hours than now. Yet he agreed anyway, knowing that if he agreed with Diego's suggestion, he would have hope, which was more than he had now.

The two men trudged out of the cave after seeing to Toronado's water and food needs.

Felipe still keenly felt his lack of ability to help in this instance. He couldn't even really offer his friend any advice. Zorro was truly on his own this time, which meant that Felipe was on his own, too.

And just like Diego, he didn't appreciate it one bit.


	6. Chapter 6

Part VI: Diego

Diego tried to sleep - he really did. He lay down on his bed with a grateful sigh, arranged the blankets and the pillows just so - and then stared at the ceiling for the rest of the night. He simply could not shut off his mind.

de Soto knew... Victoria knew... the Padre knew... his father knew... Felipe had known for years... Did anyone not know? _Sergeant Mendoza doesn't know,_ his mind whispered in the dark. But with his luck, the Sergeant was just waiting for daylight to tell him that he too knew all about Zorro's secret. Maybe he shouldn't have lunch with him tomorrow - he didn't want to tempt the man too much.

Diego rolled over and tried to sleep, but rolled back again fifteen minutes later to stare at the ceiling and think some more. Echoing through his mind over and over again was the voice of Padre Benitez innocently asking the question: Why are you making her wait?

It was a true pity that Diego had no idea how to answer that question. The closest he came to an answer was simply repeating the question to himself, his mind whispering that it was Victoria the priest was referring to, then inevitably embarking on a long list of reasons to maintain his and Victoria's status quo that seemed more flimsy than substantial. The most important reason he came up with was that it was too dangerous for Victoria to know of his identity... and there he paused every time, and the self-directed arguments began.

Victoria already knew who he was, he reminded himself. Admittedly, she thought it was her fault that he hadn't known that she'd known for years, but he was sure he'd been able to set her straight on that point before siesta had ended that day. The important thing was that Diego could no longer blame the possible danger to her as a reason for not furthering the relationship between the two of them. She knew, and had known for years. The danger to her because of her discovery had actually been relatively minimal, something Diego had never foreseen. Instead, it was her connection to Zorro that caused more danger to her than the discovery of Zorro's identity ever had.

That was a sobering thought, the obvious solution being that he needed to stay far away from Victoria so that she would no longer be connected with Zorro. But he discounted this idea before it had really found form. It was impossible to even consider staying away from Victoria now, no matter how much it would protect her from governmental retribution. Even if he didn't truly know her as well as he should considering the two of them were engaged to marry, he instinctively knew that she completed his future, she was his other half, his heart. He couldn't stay away from her now any better than he could not breathe the dusty California air. He figured that during all this time, he and Victoria had been together anyway, though not in the traditional sense of the word. Just because dealings with her had moved in an unexpected direction was no reason to abandon her to the vagaries of fate. She was him as much as he was her.

His next argument was, and always had been, that if Victoria knew his secret, then she could never hide that fact from de Soto, and therefore, he should never tell her. This, however, was untrue, as Diego well knew. de Soto had never known that Victoria knew all about Zorro's secret identity. Zorro had never known that she knew, either. To be completely honest with himself, this notion rocked Diego's natural self confidence. He had always assumed that he would know if she knew. The fact that he'd had no idea for years said a great many wonderful things about Victoria's acting abilities, but very little about Diego's ability to read people. It was a blow to his ego, as little as he liked to admit that.

Diego had also always assumed that if de Soto ever figured out who Zorro was under his mask, he would then hang the bandit and be done with it. The fact that de Soto had known all about Zorro's identity and hadn't done anything about it... for a whole month!... forced Diego to call into question many of the things he had taken for granted over the years. That alone caused Diego enough discomfort to make his ears burn.

Then Diego had another thought: he'd always assumed that if de Soto ever discovered him, it would only be a matter of time before he figured out Felipe's part in Zorro's story. The assumption that Don Alejandro knew all about the deception, too, would soon follow, and before Diego could say 'Toronado,' the entire de la Vega household would be facing the Alcalde's firing squad.

But that hadn't happened, either. In fact, nothing that Diego had always assumed would happen had come to pass. So again, begged the invisible Padre to Diego, what was the problem? Why was it that he was making Victoria wait rather than snatching her up as soon as he possibly could?

He'd always assumed that Victoria would be angry if she ever learned Zorro's secret... but she hadn't been angry at all. She'd been far more upset at herself than angry at him.

He'd also assumed that Victoria would want to give his ring back if he told her his secret because she would inevitably think that he really didn't trust her. But Victoria had been much more concerned that Diego would _ask_ for his ring back because she hadn't told him sooner that she had figured him out.

He'd also assumed that his father would hate him for not telling his secret to the very man he lived with. But, actually, his father was more worried that he might have hurt his son because he'd known about that secret much sooner than Diego had anticipated, and thus took appropriate actions to further his disguise.

And most surprising of all was de Soto's very nonchalant attitude about the whole Zorro affair, claiming that he and Diego/Zorro were now both alive, and therefore even.

And Felipe... the boy was depressed because he couldn't be any help in this situation? That idea simply amazed Diego. Felipe had been so much help over the years that Diego owed him at least twenty times over at this point. Felipe shouldn't have to feel that he must be of help to Zorro now. This truly was Zorro's problem - Felipe had been right about that. In fact, Felipe was often right about most things. It was no surprise at all that he was right again this time.

However, all this rumination, remembering, arguing, and soul searching didn't bring Diego one bit closer to a decision about what he was going to do now. All he could do was ask himself over and over again why was it that he was making Victoria wait? Why hadn't the Alcalde decided to kill him no matter how even they were? Why hadn't his father been angry enough to hate him at the way he'd tried to fool him for years? Why was the Padre being so condemnatory towards Zorro where Victoria was concerned?

Then he was back to thinking about Victoria. It was a long shot to argue that they could still be hurt by the Alcalde, and therefore Zorro had to be continually cautious where Victoria was concerned. So what, indeed, was he waiting for?

Diego had never been so unsure of himself as he was in those dark hours before dawn.

The next day, a bleary-eyed Diego sat at the tavern, watching Victoria while waiting for Mendoza to join him for lunch, and still thinking.

So why _was_ he making her wait?

Truly, Diego still had no idea. The only thing he understood was a sudden feeling of terror burning up his insides every time he even looked at Victoria.

But, for heaven's sake, why was he scared of Victoria? They were engaged! She'd made him so happy just the day before by telling him that she'd said 'yes' to _him_ and not to Zorro when he'd proposed. He could marry her now and...

Abruptly, his stomach writhed; the thought of being married was truly terrifying, though he understood why that thought was simultaneously highly ridiculous. Victoria had never scared him in his life. There was no reason that he could think of to be afraid of her. But he also couldn't deny the icy fingers of dread clenching his insides every time he considered marriage, either. So what was the problem that caused such dread? Was it marriage to Victoria? Or marriage in general?

Marriage to anybody signaled the end of Zorro, didn't it? How could he be married and still be Zorro? So much of Zorro's work happened after dark - a wife would hardly be understanding of his need to chase bandits around in the dark.

And what of de Soto? Would Diego ever be able to completely trust him not to hurt a future de la Vega wife, whoever that may be? Could he be happily married knowing that it might be his fault she was someday killed... or widowed... or her child was kidnapped... or killed?

At the same time, how could he ever just decide to no longer be Zorro, but be known as the man who was Zorro? It would be folly on his part to think he would suffer no reprisals for his law-breaking activities of the recent years. If nothing else, hotheads would hunt him down for duels no matter where he went or what he did.

For the first time, Diego realized that Zorro would be part of his life forever, even if he moved as far away as Spain. His was a life now belonging to a legend. He would never know what any day held for him: a bounty hunter not up on current affairs, a hothead, a man looking to boost his own reputation by killing the man known as Zorro... he could be fighting for the rest of his life! How could he lead a wife to that kind of transient lifestyle? He couldn't do that to anybody, least of all Victoria!

So, what could he do, now that so many knew? Wasn't this the end of Zorro? How could Diego go on if Zorro ended?

Diego's head fell into his hands; this situation was truly horrendous! He'd rather face lancers and bandits and the Alcalde armed to the teeth than be caught in this miasma of indecision. He just didn't know what to do, and that was an unfamiliar feeling: Zorro _always_ knew what to do!

Just then Diego heard the familiarly soft tones of Victoria speaking quietly into his ear. "Diego, is something wrong? My customers are beginning to ask me what's bothering the calmest man in the pueblo."

The question and following commentary kissed Diego's ear like Victoria's breath. His head shot up so fast that he almost clobbered Victoria's chin with the top of his head. His eyes settled on her friendly, welcome features, and in a split second, knew exactly what to do: in spite of the panic squeezing his heart, a sudden rush of wisdom showed him that Felipe really was prophetic: his words resounded again and again in his mind - 'let Victoria help.'

And why shouldn't he discuss this with her? Victoria had as much at stake in this situation as he did. Plus, she was aware of almost everything that he was. It actually made a lot of sense to open himself up to her unfamiliar perspective, though the thought of opening himself up to anybody was an agonizing one.

Before the agony could swamp him, he quickly said, "Victoria, we need to talk."

Victoria's face instantly blanched at his demanding tone. He could practically read her mind just by the expression of fear in her eyes: she instantly thought that he wanted his ring back.

But despite Diego's own fright at this situation, he was no more ready to ask for his ring back than she was to give it. Besides, he wouldn't voluntarily hurt Victoria no matter how afraid he was.

Given that, Diego modulated his tone. "I'm sorry - we don't _need_ to talk. I _want_ to talk... to you," he hastily added. "Are you free during siesta today?"

Her immediate alarm was beginning to dissipate, her eyes now blazing with worry instead. "Yes, of course," she replied quickly enough, "But are you sure...?"

"I just have a few things on my mind." Diego smiled disarmingly at her, doing his utmost to set her at ease while acknowledging that his comment had to be the understatement of the century. "If anyone asks what we're doing at siesta, tell them I'm giving you the English lesson you asked for yesterday."

"English," she dubiously repeated, then gave a wry grimace. "Nobody will ever believe that I'm smart enough to learn English, including me!"

"Then I'll prove them all wrong," Diego firmly announced. "You're not only smart enough, but I'm surprised I haven't suggested this sooner."

Victoria balked again, in spite of his estimation of her intelligence. "But I don't have time!"

"Which is why we're meeting during siesta," Diego politely argued. "Say what you will - I won't be swayed."

Victoria looked pleased in spite of the fear still lingering at the edges of her expression. "Alright, I'll be there at siesta. Where? _The Guardian_ office again?"

Diego's brows wrinkled. "No, that will make what we do become too much the focus of the pueblo's citizens. How about the top of the rocks at that group of boulders about half a mile to the South of the pueblo? The rocks should be cool enough this early in the year to sit on. I prefer for us to be completely alone while I... teach."

With those few words, Diego was able to let Victoria know that he wanted to talk about his alter ego, something most of the pueblo's citizens couldn't hear. The fearful emotion left her eyes then, crowded out by the worry that had firmly taken up residence. "Alright, I'll be there," she promised just as Sergeant Mendoza appeared at the table.

"Don Diego, Señorita Victoria!" he jovially greeted. "Are you ready for lunch?"

Diego grinned, "Of course, Sergeant!"

"Excellent!" The Sergeant beamed. "I've been looking forward to this all day!"

"Well then, pull up a chair, Sergeant!" Diego invited, equally as jovial, pouring on the charm to conceal his earlier anxiety. "The Señorita and I were just discussing her English lessons, but that can wait. What shall we order for lunch?"

"Ah," Mendoza beamed again, rubbing his hands together this time as he turned to Victoria. "What have you prepared?"

Victoria told him, dutifully repeating herself when Diego filled in the English words after she had spoken in Spanish. _At least she's willing to further this charade,_ Diego thought. Now, all he had to do was eat an excellent lunch before wandering in the direction that the citizens seated in the nearby vicinity would expect of him. Things couldn't have worked out better than if he'd spent the last week planning them.


	7. Chapter 7

Part VII Diego and Victoria

Diego twirled the twig in his fingers again while he sat at the top of the pile of rocks a half mile outside the pueblo. The March sun splashed down on him from an impossibly blue sky, suffusing him with its midday warmth, though lacking in the heat of the coming summer. He had several books on the English language sitting at his side, and his upraised legs easily cradled his elbows as his idle twisting continued. He looked every inch the image of the scholastic caballero he wished to convey.

He casually watched as Victoria's horse ambled out of the pueblo and over the wedges of dirt and gopher holes marking the road that led eventually to the port of San Diego. He'd always felt a strange affinity for the town that shared his name, and he considered his feelings towards that pueblo now while Victoria sauntered ever nearer.

He was just wondering what it would be like to live in that coastal village when Victoria dismounted close to where he'd left Esperanza, tied her horse, then began the slow climb to join him. Diego could hear her soft slippers scuffing on the large footholds on what the pueblo citizens often called 'Seventh Heaven at the Top of the World.'

In spite of its impressive name and large footholds, few ventured to the top of the boulders, so Diego had known ahead of time that they'd have the rock pile to themselves. It was one of those ignored treasures of the pueblo, much like the woman coming towards him. Diego just wished he understood why the thought of being married to her - or to anyone - frightened him so much. Marriage now seemed as rocky a prospect as this boulder pile. Besides, Diego wasn't used to being frightened by things - Zorro seemed to never be afraid.

And considering Zorro - this boulder pile had also served Zorro many times as a way to scout the terrain around Los Angeles, since one could see for miles in every direction from the top of this rock pile. He felt calm and safe here, second only to the calmness he felt in the cave. It was why he had suggested it as a meeting place. He and Victoria were unlikely to be interrupted here, and Diego instinctively knew that he would need the calmness that the rocks exuded if he was to make it through the conversation he proposed to have.

So, deceptively languid, he kept twirling his twig until Victoria joined him.

Diego tossed the twig aside as she eyed the books snuggled near his knee. "You're not really going to give me an English lesson, are you?"

Diego smiled warmly at her. "Today, no, though if you are interested in learning, I have several books that I thought might help a beginning student."

She gave a wry smile as she settled near him on the sun-warmed rocks. "Leave it to you to carry books to the top of a pile of rocks."

Diego couldn't quite squash the grin that wanted to explode out of him as he stared at her. She looked so welcoming in the strong sunlight, so happy to be with him. For a moment, he let himself just be happy to be with her, too. "I figured that books would only help convey my soft image - did it work?"

Victoria gave a thoughtful hum, then playfully poked him in the arm where nothing but a mass of hard muscles met her probe. "A little softness never hurt anyone."

"Then I'm doing the right thing." Diego laughed with her, all the while wondering how he could possibly be afraid of her?

Victoria shrugged, clearly unaware of his newer concerns. "I've never thought about learning English before. I never thought I was capable of it."

"You're more than capable," Diego instantly argued, thinking of the way she'd so easily uncovered his disguise. "You simply haven't had the chance."

Victoria gave a nervous snort. "What you really mean is that I haven't had your schooling."

"That's due more to lack of opportunity than intellectual ability," he gently argued back. "You're more capable of learning new things than many of the students I knew in Madrid." His easy defensive manner dropped abruptly away. "But that isn't why I asked you out here today."

"I didn't think it was."

Diego smiled at her dry comment. "I do want to talk to you," he affirmed, using his lower 'Zorro' tones without even thinking about it. "We can pretend we're having an English lesson in case anyone gets curious, though if you really are interested, I'll be happy to continue meeting you."

Victoria drew back just a bit. "Meeting like this, without a chaperon?" Her smile held just a hint of mischievous humor in it. "I don't think..."

"Good - don't think," Diego hastily interrupted. "Just listen." Without considering any consequences for perhaps the first time in years, he lowered his legs and spread a book out on his lap in order to further their disguise, then grabbed her fingers to pull her close, and in a soft voice that was sure not to carry on the wind, filled her in on the startling revelations of the day before. "I want to know what you think about all this, and what I should do," he ended on a pleading note.

However, if he was hoping for a quick answer to all his problems, he was in for a big disappointment. Victoria reared back again, glaring at him, askance. "The Alcalde knows?"

"And hasn't done anything."

Her glare intensified, making Diego suddenly nervous. "And you have to ask me what to do?" Her incredulous voice carried to him, if not across the plain to Los Angeles.

"Shouldn't I ask?" Diego wanted to know, growing even more nervous at her reaction. "This does concern you, doesn't it?"

"Well... yes!" Victoria spluttered. "At least, I hope it does!"

"Well then..." Diego prompted.

She huffed once. "I should think that what you should do is obvious!"

Why did Diego feel like it was obvious to everyone but him?

As his brows raised in question, Victoria huffed a second time while rising to her feet. "Diego de la Vega, if you can't figure this out, then I have nothing more to say to you!"

It was then that Diego realized he hadn't told Victoria about his paralyzing fear from just moments before, hadn't mentioned his sudden and insane worries about marriage, hadn't really said anything to her. Before she could hurry down the rock face and away from him, Diego lunged after her, grabbing her left hand. "Victoria, wait! I forgot to tell you..! There's so much..! Stop!"

His desperate command halted her flight away from him. Pebbles skittered down the side of the boulders, and Victoria grabbed at Diego's hand again to regain her balance that her precipitate turn had ruined. Teetering for a second, her look turned to one of irritation. "Diego! How could you be so..! Ugh!"

Diego pulled on her hand, yanking her back towards him. "You have to listen!"

"I don't just have to listen to anything you say!" she growled, her voice low, but her anger heightened, staining her cheeks a rosy red. "Do I mean nothing to you? Are we engaged, or was that just..?"

"Will you listen!" Diego growled back, his voice equally low and angry. "Last night, I was able to think about our future at a time when it could truly happen - and you know what? Today that future scares me to death!

Victoria's anger dissipated, replaced by a puzzled expression. "Nothing frightens Zorro," she uselessly pointed out.

"I'm not Zorro!" Diego hissed before he could think better of what he was saying. Once he paused and thought, he backtracked. "Well, yes, I am, but I wasn't being Zorro just then - I was Diego - just Diego - and I've never been so confused in my life!"

Her puzzlement deepened - her natural sense of empathy was engaged in spite of herself. "You're frightened?"

Diego's brows furrowed so much that they became a single line over hazy blue eyes. "Of you! And I've never been afraid of you! What is this - some new kind of mind control from the Alcalde?"

Victoria spluttered with laughter at that comment. "Not likely. But it is curious - you being afraid."

Diego scowled. "I don't like being frightened of something you represent."

"I can't say that I like it, either," she exclaimed on a low note. "But what exactly worries you so much? If not me, then..?"

"It is you," Diego broke in to argue, "and it isn't you."

At a loss, Victoria asked, "Is it marriage? You _do_ still want to get married, don't you?"

Diego hesitated, trying to pinpoint exactly what was bothering him.

She took his hesitation as confirmation of her worst fears. "You don't, do you?" She tugged on her hand still trapped in his grasp. "That's it! Let me go!"

She pulled at his hand, but Diego refused to release his grasp. For the first time, she had an inkling of the raw strength in Diego as he used his muscles against her.

"Please, Victoria - listen to me!"

But her tugging increased. "All these years, all that time, and I thought you actually wanted to marry me - HA!"

"Victoria, I love you!"

"Then why are you afraid to marry me?"

"I don't know! That's what I'm trying to find out!"

"You don't love me! You've just been using me to..!"

Diego next did the most improper thing he'd ever done: he deliberately yanked Victoria forward till she landed in his lap in a heap of tangled arms and legs and lost balance. He caught her, pinning her arms to her sides so that she couldn't strike him.

That did nothing to stop her from wiggling, though. She fought him like a wild cat. "I can't believe that I bought everything you said! I can't believe that I..."

"Will you listen for just a minute?!" Diego struggled with her, his balance threatened by her jerky movements. "I love you! I want more than anything to marry you! I have wanted that for years!"

"So you say!" she scathingly hissed at him. "I.."

"If you don't stop acting like a child, we're both going to fall over the edge!" Diego hung onto his tenuous balance by one lone muscle in his right leg.

"If you think insulting me is going to stop me, you are sadly mistaken, Señor!"

Unable to think of anything else to do, he kissed her.

Which did nothing but give Victoria the chance to bite his bottom lip. "Stop that!"

"If anybody sees us up here with you in my arms, your reputation is ruined, and there will be no Zorro to save you this time!"

The hissed warning finally penetrated her temper. She stopped in mid writhe, both of them breathing hard.

Diego lowered his head till it innocently met her shoulder. "Why won't you believe me? Have you ever known Zorro to lie?"

"You just said it yourself - you're not Zorro."

"Zorro... Diego... it doesn't matter who I am. I still love you."

"Then why are you afraid to marry me?" Her question was so quiet, it barely reached his ear.

"I'm not afraid to marry you," Diego protested. "I'm afraid to marry anybody. I've never been in the position to be able to marry before."

"Yes you have," she instantly argued. "Or have you conveniently forgotten Zafira like you obviously wish to forget me?"

"I haven't forgotten Zafira!" came Diego's second protest. "She's just not the important one right now - you are! I just want to figure out why I'm so afraid!"

"That's easy!" Victoria scoffed. "You're afraid of Real Life, not of getting married!"

Diego instantly stilled. "What did you say?"

Even more scathing, Victoria sneered, "You're afraid you'll be bored with just me! No one to fight, no one to use your clever tricks against, no one to outwit! Just me, and you can't stand that!"

He grew as quiet as if she had slapped him. "Afraid of..." This was an idea he had _never_ considered before. "Why do you think that?"

Victoria scoffed again. "I've always worried about that. Haven't you?"

Diego's voice took on a note of wonder as he replied, "No, this is the first... I've been so busy thinking that you would be angry when I told you my secret - it never occurred to me that _I_ would be the problem!"

Victoria's eyes narrowed. "Just like an arrogant man to assume any problems will be caused by the female!" She strained against his hold, still clearly intent on leaving him.

Diego's hold on her tightened. "Sh! I've got you, but you need to be still while I think."

Victoria stilled in his arms for a second, but the way she leaned close to him was hardly conciliatory. Her face had never blazed with anger like it did now. "You think all you want, but I have better things to do - let me go!"

And just like that, Diego's hold on her vanished. She would have jerked off balance over the side if he hadn't retained his hold on her till the last second, saving her from a nasty fall. She was less than grateful - more like confused and suspicious. "What are you doing?"

Diego blinked at her, amazed at how mercurial her moods were - he'd never noticed that about her before. "You obviously can't stand the sight of me, so I'm letting you go." He imitated her gaping expression. "It's clearly what you want - and you know that I'll always give you what you want if I can. So go."

But instead of leaving, Victoria simply stood unmoving on the rock face, eyeing him suspiciously, heaving as if the air was thin so high off the ground. "What if I don't want to go?"

Diego laughed a maniacal laugh. "You've been telling me since you got here that you want to leave me - and I'm not stopping you. So go!"

"No!"

Diego sighed in exasperation. "Victoria, I don't know what you want. I'm afraid of something - you claim that it's Real Life, and that you want to leave me if that's the case. I'd rather discuss this with you like adults, but if you want to go, I won't stop you - as I've told you before, I love you too much." His whisper didn't sound angry anymore, just tired. "So go. Being alone is something I'm used to."

That plaintive remark sparked her sympathy. "I haven't thought of that before - you being alone."

Diego snorted a laugh of incredulity. "What did you think I was all this time?" He peered up at her outline that was bathed in sunlight. "Felipe might have helped me - a lot - but he's the strong, silent type - we didn't discuss a lot over the years."

Now she appeared confused again. "Felipe?"

Diego's own confusion grew at her puzzled tone. "Yes. I thought you knew."

She just shook her head. "I knew about you - but there's more?"

Diego gave a dismissive wave. "You know the important piece of information. The rest..."

His voice trailed into the air - he was simply too tired to explain right now. The wind whistled around them in the following silence, a living thing, waiting for him to add more. At last he obliged by saying, "I always said that Zorro worked alone, and he did. Not that I want to dismiss all that Felipe has done for me - he's saved my life more than once! But we didn't discuss things very often." The wryness in his voice was heavy even at a whisper. "It's rather difficult to discuss more than the general problems with a mute, no matter how much I knew about his signing."

Victoria stood still, considering him. Her obviously puzzled stare unnerved him until he asked, "What?"

She shook her head, her hair blowing crazily in the wind. "I just never thought of you as being so alone before, even with Felipe. I assumed that your father knew everything."

Diego snorted once more. "If I thought the danger to you was too high to say anything, the danger to my father was just as unimaginable. Of course I couldn't tell anybody."

"But you just said you told Felipe," she mulishly protested.

Diego groaned at her inability to grasp what he thought of as a simple concept. "He knew because I showed him the cave before I thought to keep Zorro a secret from everyone. But it wasn't because I told him."

That surprised Victoria - she jumped. "You've never told anybody?"

Diego shrugged. "No, I didn't dare. But if it makes you feel better, I almost told you everything so many times. Only the fact that I assumed you would be in danger stopped me - angry, and in danger." His snort of laughter was self-directed this time. "Now you've figured me out, and you're angry anyway." His own sigh was a lot more regretful than Victoria's had been. "I thought it would be so wonderful if someone knew, especially you, but this isn't turning out at all like I expected." An ironic thought twisted his lips. "I suppose it's a good lesson for me: don't assume." The twist to his lips was definitely self-condemnatory now. "That has always worked for Zorro - I guess it should become Diego's mantra as well."

Surprisingly, Victoria dropped down beside him as soon as he spoke, taking his hand in hers. For some reason, seeing his large, long fingers cradled in her smaller ones sent a jolt of longing through Diego that was so strong, it surprised him; he hadn't felt that strongly for quite some time. But he suddenly wanted what those fingers represented, wanted it with every fiber in him. At the same time, that intense longing frightened him - and it was his experience that what you wanted often came at a high price.

Diego glanced up in time to catch the earnest look in her dark eyes. "We'll figure this out together - I promise," she announced.

But her turnaround only confused Diego more. "You just said..."

"I know what I just said. But..." Her shrug enthralled him. "You sound like you need me."

"I do." His whisper grew husky at the sudden light in her eyes. "I always have."

She closed her eyes for a moment, shutting out their welcome expression. Opening them again, she firmly said, "Then we'll just have to put our heads together with Felipe's - there must be some way out of this, and we'll find it."

Diego's gaze raked across her features, feverish. "Victoria, I want to understand."

She pressed her forehead to his, her skin cool on his hot brow. "Diego, there's got to be a way out for you. I want to be part of it - no matter what I said - I'm sorry." She shrugged again. "I've never thought of you as so alone before. I don't want you to be alone."

Diego grasped her hand to his chest, the beating of his heart making it jump. "I don't want to be alone, either, but I've also never been so scared of not being alone. I don't know what to do."

"I'll help." Victoria was so earnest now that her eyes sparkled with the depths of her emotions. "I want us to be together."

"I want that too - you know I do. But I need to think..."

"Let me help you," she suddenly entreated. "Felipe and I will help you, and so will Don Alejandro. We all have good heads on our shoulders. There must be some reason why you're so afraid. We'll find it."

"It's not you, I swear, Victoria. I'm just so confused that I..."

"Stop thinking so much," Victoria suggested in a whisper. "Thinking and talking. I can't kiss you when you won't stop talking."

She wanted to kiss him? In spite of his feelings, that thrilled him. "But Victoria, I think..."

"There you go again. Stop it."

And she kissed him before he could say another word. The action took him by surprise for a moment. The wind buffeted them from all sides as she wound her arms around his neck, soothing his worries at the same time she awoke his passion. Unthinkingly, Diego buried his hands in her hair, doing more now than just holding on. He couldn't stop himself from instantly responding to her, and his tumbling emotions roared to life.

It was over far too quickly as far as Diego was concerned. Their foreheads touched when they parted. "But I don't understand," he softly protested. "First, you're mad at me for being afraid to marry, and you can't wait to get away from me. Now you want... what?"

"Diego, I may not always make sense, and neither will you, but I do love you. Let me be something more to you than a good cook. Let me in."

Diego stared at her in quizzical wonder. "I always thought you were already in."

Victoria shook her head. "You've been alone for a long time. Felipe helped... but you've solved everything alone."

"I had to."

She nodded, her skin rubbing his. "You don't have to anymore - maybe that's what frightens you. If you want help, then you have to _let_ me help."

It was exactly what Felipe had suggested the night before. Maybe he was more help than he'd realized?

If Felipe was already hard at work helping him, things would only improve if Victoria helped as well. As hard as it was, Diego made his first attempt in years at purposely letting someone else influence his decisions. "Consider yourself in."

Victoria's smile matched his. She didn't say anything, but she did kiss him again.

Diego considered that letting someone else be of help to him wasn't so bad after all.


	8. Chapter 8

Part VIII Reality - the de la Vega men

The moment Diego got home later that afternoon, he went straight to the bookcase in the library to return one of his English books that he had used in Victoria's lesson and grab a harder one. Victoria had already made it through the easier book, and he certainly didn't want her growing bored with English... or her teacher!

Thus, he was very surprised when his father's voice slipped around him like a cloud in the library's gloom.

"Good to see you again today."

Diego whipped around, momentarily startled, then relaxed when he realized who was talking. "Oh... yes. It's good to see you, too, Father. What did you do all day?"

Don Alejandro stretched in his armchair fronting the windows, a book at his elbow. "Oh, you know, the usual. We had to find Cimarron's lost colt."

"Did you find him, and was he alright?"

"Yes, on both counts. He was in Perdito Canyon, but he was hard to find. We really could have used your help."

"Sorry - I was giving an English lesson to Victoria." That comment brought to Diego's mind the activities of the afternoon that had accompanied the English lesson, and in spite of the emotional turmoil of the day, had to smile.

Don Alejandro, on the other hand, wasn't smiling. "No need to ask you how 'the English lesson' went - I already know."

That statement startled Diego out of his reminiscences. "How could you know?"

Alejandro sighed in response, once again appearing deeply disappointed in his son, even though he now knew who he really was. "Honestly, Diego, you must have left your brains with Sergeant Mendoza: meeting Victoria _outside_ where just anyone can watch?"

A cold chill snaked up Diego's spine. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Alejandro began, his voice sounding tired now as it became soft as a whisper, "it's a good thing I already know who you are, or I would be taking a switch to you for messing around with another man's girl."

Diego scowled. "I wasn't 'messing around!' I told you - I was giving Victoria an English lesson." There was more 'Zorro' in his response than 'Diego.'

Alejandro was unused to his son defending himself so roundly. His second sigh wasn't any more encouraging than his first, however, showing how Diego's defensive words wouldn't deter him. "An English lesson wasn't what I saw going on at the top of Seventh Heaven... _all_ afternoon. The Alcalde didn't see any lesson going on, either."

"The Alcalde?" Diego's sharp inquiry filled the room.

His father eyed him, severely irritated. "Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed?"

Diego's expression went from 'pleasant recollection of memories' to 'defensive' in a heartbeat. "Of course not," he whispered in a tone matching his father's. "Victoria also told me yesterday that she knows everything... and that changes some things between us that we needed to discuss."

Alejandro gave a sarcastic groan. "Your discussion was quite emotional, wasn't it?"

Abruptly Diego scowled again. "You don't seem very worried about the Alcalde knowing everything, too. Being this calm isn't like you."

His comment caused Alejandro to give a sardonic bark of laughter. "You mean, I don't seem like a father worried that his son was so stupid that he's now on the verge of being discovered, captured, and hung?"

Diego nodded, too stunned to hear some of his basic fears so baldly stated by someone else to respond more verbally.

Alejandro gave a reluctant huff before admitting, "I know all about how much de Soto knows - and how he promises not to do anything because you saved his life."

"Yes, that's what he..."

"But that doesn't mean he's the only person in the pueblo smart enough to watch the doings of every man with a mustache!" Alejandro interrupted Diego to remind. "We were both rather surprised at how you behaved right out in the open like that, especially considering how careful you've always been." The silence that settled over the library then was like a black cloak, heavy and smothering.

Don Alejandro casually broke that silence in a voice thick with innuendo. "I take it you decided to tell Victoria."

Uncomfortable, Diego winced at Alejandro's strident whisper. "Uh... no."

That statement surprised Alejandro. "What?"

Diego quickly glanced at his surroundings, dropping the English book to a chair to be retrieved later. "I'll tell you - but not here."

His father's surprise could not have been more complete if he'd streaked naked through the room. "Not here? Then where? Not on top of a pile of rocks, I hope!"

The corners of Diego's lips lifted in spite of the unpleasant situation. "No. There's a..." Instead of explaining, he just crossed to the fireplace, once again looked furtively around, then touched the hidden spring on the mantel when he saw no one. The secret door swung silently open wide. "Go on in - I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

Alejandro jerkily rose and crossed the room, staring warily at the opening he hadn't known existed five seconds before. "Where are you going?"

Diego distractedly replied, "To find Felipe."

Alejandro startled again. "Felipe?"

But Diego was already gone.

A second later, Alejandro vanished through the door, walking into a world that was so different from the one he'd left that he did a double take when he saw the cave. He was amazed it had always been right under his nose in his own hacienda, and he hadn't suspected a thing. The laboratory/hideout was so Diego and so Zorro at the same time that Alejandro had to give another blink of astonishment to make sure he was seeing things right. _Diego must usually be much more careful than he was this afternoon to keep this from me so successfully,_ he ruminated, admiring his surroundings, noting all the scientific paraphernalia right next to the weapons, and seeing the power of the black steed up close for the first time. The horseman in Alejandro immediately appreciated Toronado's muscular frame. _The Alcalde never stood a chance._

Just then, Diego appeared, Felipe at his side, both of them looking for too comfortable in this secret cavern buried under his hacienda. "I'm not interrupting anything important, I hope," Alejandro sardonically quipped. "Another English lesson, perhaps?"

Diego didn't like the condemnatory expression that flitted across his father's eyes, but he ignored it in lieu of discussing things that were far more significant just then. "You can say anything to Felipe that you'd say to me... _exactly_ as you'd say it to me."

Meaning that Felipe would hear it...

This was another surprise for Alejandro, but one tempered by his own long standing suspicions. "As I thought." At Felipe's own look of surprise, added, "Truly, this delights me, Felipe, even if I thought I knew." Then he purposely studied the two men in front of him. "It appears that more than one of you knows how to keep a secret."

"We'll discuss that idea all you want at a later time," Diego said, and instead fixed his petulant glare on Alejandro. "Right now, I just want you to yell at me and get it out of your system."

Alejandro was only too happy to give in to his son's request, speaking at his normal level now that they were so well concealed. "What were you thinking, Diego, giving such ammunition to the Alcalde, even if he does know?!"

"I had no idea you were spying on us!" Diego exclaimed. "You had no business watching any of that!"

"Of course it was my business!" Alejandro retorted back. "Zorro belongs to me as much as he belongs to Victoria, and as a citizen of Los Angeles, she's as much a public figure as he is! Her behavior..."

"... has always been beyond reproach, and you know it!"

"Perhaps," Alejandro conceded, hands on hips in remonstration. "But her behavior today was..."

"Don't say a thing about Victoria!" Diego hotly demanded. "If you're going to say something, then say it about me."

Alejandro's hands fell. "All right, fine. You were seen, Diego! If the Alcalde could watch you through a spy glass..."

"I thought that glass was destroyed long ago," Diego interjected.

Alejandro didn't look happy about the interruption. "Then he ordered another - as you should have anticipated!"

"I did!" Diego defended. "I looked, everywhere! But I haven't seen anything that even looked like a spy glass belonging to the Alcalde for months, so I assumed that he didn't have another one! I would never have put Victoria in jeopardy if I thought..."

"What was to keep anybody else from seeing everything you did?" Alejandro stridently pointed out. "Zorro is known for his cool head, but this..."

Diego's voice dripped with atypical sarcasm when he noted, "Remember, I left my brains at lunch with Mendoza."

Alejandro was not amused. "Are you sure you didn't leave them at dinner, too?" He then fell into the desk chair in defeat. "I can understand not taking into account the danger to you at this point..."

"I'm always thinking of the danger."

"No, you're not, or you wouldn't be stupid enough to lure Victoria into it, too!" Alejandro's renewed anger snapped like a whip across the cave. "Are you so cavalier about what can happen now that you..?"

"No!" Diego firmly retorted, then his voice fell till he hissed, "I'm more frightened now than I have ever been!"

"You _should_ be frightened!" Alejandro snapped back, unwilling to feel sympathy at this disclosure. "You're going to get killed, and take Victoria with you!"

Diego instantly refuted, "I don't..!"

That was when Felipe stepped in between the warring pair, hands held out to stop any more angry retorts. The shocked expression on his face showed his amazement at the two of them. *No fight!* he ordered.

Diego wilted, the anger leaving him in a whoosh as his hands threaded through his hair in despair. "You're right, Felipe. I don't know what's wrong with me. I usually have much better control than this."

Felipe grabbed his upraised arm in a sympathetic grip to get his attention, then signed, *How much sleep last night?*

Diego winced as his hair swung over his hand. "I didn't sleep last night," he replied, surely confirming Felipe's suspicions.

He was right, but the set down didn't come from Felipe. Don Alejandro exclaimed, "You didn't sleep!?"

"Not so loud!" Diego immediately ordered. "These walls are thick, but not completely soundproof."

"Diego," Alejandro said, lowering his voice, but chastising all the same. "When was the last time you slept?"

Diego had to think - by now, his most recent past was growing slightly fuzzy. "I left last night around midnight to catch some bandits... then ran into the Padre... then couldn't shut my mind off to sleep... I don't think I slept before going out... then I must not have slept since the night before that... so that makes it... 36 hours?" he guessed. "Maybe more?" Victoria would laugh at his feeble attempt at addition, something she could do in _her_ sleep.

Felipe whacked him on his arm, his features fierce, letting Diego know exactly what he thought of him for going so long without sleep. He slashed a 'Z' into the air, then his sign for 'bandits,' then he pantomimed getting stabbed, all the while glaring straight at Diego.

The tall man was oddly contrite; Alejandro somehow didn't expect Felipe to show so much equality with Diego to feel that he had the right to yell at him. The truly startling thing about this scene was that Diego clearly assumed that the younger man automatically had that right. It was an interesting piece to note about the puzzle that comprised Diego and Felipe's complex relationship.

"You're right, Felipe," Diego was apologetically saying now. "I shouldn't have gone out as Zorro to chase bandits on so little sleep, but I didn't even think about that at the time. I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

Don Alejandro jerked around the desk. "You're right, you won't do that again!"

But Felipe was already ahead of him. He had already turned to the experiment table and poured some liquid into a bowl that he thrust it into Diego's hand. Then he stood, arms crossed on his chest while tapping his foot on the floor. His eyes told Diego that he wouldn't let him leave the cave until he had drunk all the liquid in the bowl.

Diego gave his charming smile. "Felipe, this really isn't necessary."

But Alejandro backed Felipe. "If that's something to make you sleep, then Felipe's got the right idea. No wonder you behaved the way you did with Victoria - you were stupid for lack of sleep. Drink it, then go to bed."

"No, wait." Diego tried to marshal his thoughts into a semblance of order. "First I need to tell you..."

"It can wait," Alejandro firmly said. "Drink."

Diego was getting desperate. "Please! You know all about Zorro's identity, and Victoria, and the Alcalde, and the Padre do as well! I don't know what to do about that fact, or what it all means! Besides that, I'm afraid to get married." His eyes beseeched his father, as if simply stating these fears would make them disappear under his father's unending wisdom.

Alejandro heaved a great sigh filled with reluctance. "What exactly frightens you about marriage, Son?" Before Diego could formulate an answer in his exhausted mind, Alejandro blanched. "Did Victoria say something - like she wants to marry Zorro, not you?"

Diego groaned. "Of course not. You saw us today at the rocks - she doesn't mind marrying Diego de la Vega one bit." Then his expression grew chagrined. "But I had never really thought about marriage - to anybody. It always seemed like such a long way off."

Here, Alejandro groaned, but didn't comment.

Diego continued, "I know that having concerns isn't being fair to Victoria, but I can't help it."

His father sighed again, world-weary now. "That's what you and Victoria were discussing out on the rocks today, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

Alejandro thoughtfully eyed Diego for a minute, then shook his head. "None of this matters, really, Diego - you and Victoria aren't even engaged yet... unless you intend to marry some other girl?"

Diego scowled. "Don't be silly, Father! Of course I'll marry Victoria... and we _are_ engaged."

Alejandro looked astonished. "And you say you're afraid to marry her?" _I'll never get any grandchildren._

Diego winced. "She said today that I'm subconsciously worried that I'll get bored with being married, with regular life - that's what I'm afraid of."

Alejandro blinked his surprise. "Hmmm... Zorro's afraid of the life of the little people."

"Father!" Diego muttered in irritation. "You've been married - you know what it's like. Is she right? Am I going to get bored with the reality of marriage?"

"Bored - being married?" Alejandro's splutters of laughter filled the room, the incredulous sound giving the impression that Alejandro thought Diego was loco if he thought 'marriage' was synonymous with 'boredom.'

Diego gave him a look of annoyance. "I mean..."

"I know what you mean," Alejandro interrupted before Diego could explain any further. "But I thought Zorro wanted to marry Victoria!"

"He does - I do!" Diego protested.

Alejandro turned his sardonic expression to Felipe. "Tell me Felipe: the man can finally get what he wants... and _now_ he's worried about growing bored?"

Felipe threw up his hands in an excellent show of his extreme frustration.

Diego didn't blame him for feeling so upset. Felipe had spent the last several years listening to Diego expound on how much he wanted to be with Victoria, and now when he could, said he was too scared to finally accept her. This must be maddening to him.

It was maddening to Diego as well. At his wits' end, he took the bowl from Felipe. "Is she right? You both think while I sleep." Then he drank the bowl's entire contents, grimacing at the awful taste of his own sleeping potion. The bowl had been at least half full - he would sleep for hours. "I'll let myself out. Good-night."

Feeling lighter now that he'd managed to unload his problems and fears onto somebody else's shoulders for awhile, he quickly glanced out the peephole, then left the cave.


	9. Chapter 9

Part IX Felipe and Don Alejandro

Alejandro turned towards the other occupant of the cave, slightly amazed. "Did I just see Zorro run away?"

Felipe threw up his hands again, irritated now as much as frustrated. He whirled around and stomped straight towards the black horse to make sure he had enough food and water to last throughout the night.

Toronado snorted a greeting, and Felipe affectionately rubbed his favorite spot under his chin. Horses he could understand. You fed them, you groomed them, they liked food and being fussed over... they would then do whatever you asked. He instinctively understood them.

Diego, on the other hand...


	10. Chapter 10

Part X The Wisdom of Don Alejandro

Alejandro roughly shook Diego's shoulder many hours later. "Diego, wake up."

Diego brushed the irritation aside and slid further into sleep.

His father's shaking grew even rougher. "Diego, that's enough. You've been asleep for over a day... you can't run away forever."

"ButIcantry," Diego slurred, turned over, and went back to sleep.

Alejandro glared down at his son, then righteously ripped the blankets off the bed. "Get up! Victoria's here."

Diego jerked, waking in spite of himself. He peered drowsily up at his father, trying to make his fuzzy brain keep up with the conversation. Aloud, he stupidly echoed, "Victoria?"

"Yes!" growled Don Alejandro. He crossed the room to Diego's wardrobe, and began pulling out trousers and a shirt. "I asked her to come over after dinner tonight - and she's here - so get up!"

But Diego just couldn't wrap his mind around what his father was saying. "You asked her over..."

"Yes! To talk to her and the man she plans to marry... you. I've been thinking about marriage all day, particularly about _you_ getting married."

"ToVictoriaIhope," Diego slurred.

Don Alejandro continued as if Diego hadn't even spoken. "If Zorro doesn't show his face at this meeting that's at least partially for his benefit, then so help me, I'll be giving Zorro a piece of my horse whip, that's what!"

Diego couldn't fathom it: Zorro was a master of the whip and the sword, yet here he was, being threatened with a whipping by his father? There was something inherently ridiculous in that, but Diego was just too tired to figure out what that was. At the same time, if he knew one thing about his father, it was that he shouldn't push him when he got that tone. Alejandro might carry through with his threat, no matter who his son really was. So he got moving, fast.

In spite of worries about who his father was willing to threaten, Diego wasn't quite awake yet when they slipped out of the darkened corridor and into the library, where Victoria was patiently waiting on the loveseat. Diego mumbled 'Hola' to her, then promptly curled up with his head on her lap, his legs dangling on the floor, and went back to sleep.

Victoria looked in confusion at the man sleeping on her leg. She earnestly leaned towards an exasperated Don Alejandro and whispered, "I thought you needed to speak to us in the cave - how will we get him there if he's asleep?"

Don Alejandro was at his wits end with such a sleepy son. "I don't know - can you suggest anything?"

"Is he injured?"

Alejandro's face relaxed. "No. Felipe gave him something to make him sleep - do you know what I'm talking about?"

"Ah," Victoria knowingly said, her grunt accompanied by an understanding gush of air. "I have more knowledge about his sleeping remedies than I wish. Water will help him - can you get him a glass?"

Alejandro nodded without asking Victoria how she knew what she knew, then left to get some water while Victoria continued to act like a pillow. The moment he reappeared, she took the glass from him, but instead of making Diego drink the water, dipped her fingers into it to drop onto Diego's face. Drips kept slowly sliding off her fingers, and the more that landed on Diego's skin, the more alert he became. At last he was awake enough to sit up and drink the remaining water in the glass.

"Ah, gracias," he quietly said, and blinked at his surroundings. "My head is growing clearer all the time."

"I thought for a minute that we would have to send for Dr. Hernandez," Alejandro dryly quipped as he gazed at Diego.

Diego gazed back, perplexed. "Why are we whispering?"

"Because..." Alejandro's gaze raked over him. "Feeling strong enough to walk?"

Diego stood to illustrate his fast returning strength. "Yes. But..."

Alejandro didn't give him the time to say more. "Good. You two, follow me." After first insuring that the coast was clear, he hit the correct spot on the mantel to open the hidden door, then vanished through the opening, assuming they would follow.

When he had reached the cave proper and could rise again to his full height, he gestured to the desk chair. "Victoria." Then he pulled up the stool that Felipe had previously sat on for Diego. "Son."

Diego took the stool, pulling it close to the desk and Victoria, but spoke to his father in his regular tones, "Why all the secrecy, Father? What's this about?"

Alejandro pulled up his own stool, then surprisingly scowled at Diego as soon as he sat. "I should think that's obvious." But the 'hero of the pueblo' clearly didn't remember what he'd said about marriage only moments before. He hoped Diego's memory was typically better than what was on display right now.

Diego and Victoria shared a look, both confused. "Noooo." Diego at last shook his head. "It's not so obvious to us."

Alejandro heaved a beleaguered sigh, as if his son was the man with the slowest brain he'd ever come across. "You said that you wanted to talk about marriage. Then, please consider this conversation as 'Marriage For Beginners.'"

Victoria looked to Diego, her own confusion growing, before her gaze settled on her possible father-in-law. "Don Alejandro, not that we don't appreciate this, but..."

"Diego said he's scared to get married, and for me to figure out why," Alejandro testily interrupted in a voice of flint. "Now, do you want the wisdom of someone who has at least _been_ married, or would it be better for me to let you two figure this out on your own? He is, after all, Zorro - doesn't he know _everything_?" Sarcasm dripped from Alejandro's words.

Still blinking away the last bit of sleep from his eyes, Diego agreed, "I did tell you to figure this out while I slept, didn't I?" He shared a glance with Victoria that clearly said 'why not?' So he turned to regard his father again. "We'd be happy to listen to whatever you think wise to tell us."

"Good." Alejandro eyed both young people sitting before him, but it was still a surprise to Diego when his father swung to Victoria, starting with her. "We know that Diego's frightened of marriage, and you've given your suspicions as to why; are you frightened of anything in particular, Victoria?"

Diego was quite astonished that he'd never thought to ask her that simple question himself. He'd been so wrapped up in his own insecurities that he hadn't even considered that Victoria might have some, too.

For her part, Victoria's eyes darted between Diego and his father and back again. "Um... I think... perhaps... no."

That answer took even the jaded Alejandro off guard. "No?" he disbelievingly repeated. "There's nothing? Not even an inkling... an itch?"

Victoria's head shake made her hair swish against her shoulders. "No, not a thing."

Alejandro gaped, then glared at her with an unfamiliar scowl. "I don't believe you. Maybe whatever you're playing at can fool this lug," he said, pointing to Diego. "But me? Not a chance." He clapped his hands together once, and the sound echoed against the cavern roof. "So... out with it."

Uneasy at her friend's unrelenting tone, Victoria's gaze again began darting from father to son. "I don't... can't..." she began, unsure what was safe to say.

"Out with it, Victoria - you're among friends," Alejandro added, thinking he understood what was stopping her.

Victoria's gaze did some more darting, she did some sighing, then at last she spoke. "I... uh... don't want to insult you, or..."

"No insult taken," Alejandro assured. "Right, Diego?"

Diego, on the other hand, had eyes only for his future partner. "Victoria? What is it?" His hand went to her arm in support.

At last she capitulated. "I don't know anything about running a hacienda," she admitted with a worried shrug. "All I know is how to run a tavern. But those other ladies... daughters of caballeros... they know..." Her voice trailed off as she stared at Diego, stricken.

Diego was hard put not to laugh, his mouth twisting with the effort. Alejandro saw Diego's struggle, and discreetly stepped on the top of his right boot, enabling his son to swallow his gesture at the last moment.

"Victoria," Diego assured, "I don't want other caballero ladies... you know that."

"Yes, but, what happens when Don Alejandro wants to throw a party, or..."

"What do you mean 'what will happen?' We'll have a party." Diego's lowered brows marked his confusion.

"But I'll trip over a long gown I'm not used to wearing, or do something else wrong and embarrass you," Victoria insisted, her voice now full of protestation. "I don't want to be the cause of ruining the de la Vega name."

Diego couldn't help but smile at what he perceived as unimportant fears. "Of course you won't. Everybody loves you."

To his surprise, Victoria frowned. "Wrong. Everybody thinks I'm 'Zorro's Fallen Woman.' You should hear the talk at the tavern."

"What?" Diego clearly didn't know what she was referring to. "I've never heard..."

"That's because they're afraid you'll print who said it in your newspaper," she quickly replied. "They aren't so careful when you're not around."

"But..."

"You see, things aren't necessarily what you think they are," Alejandro cut in to point out. "Is it caballeros who say this, or is it everybody?" he asked Victoria.

She paused for a minute to consider. "It's mostly caballeros, I guess."

Alejandro nodded wisely. "They're warning you to stay away in case Zorro turns out to be a caballero."

"What?" Diego retorted, aghast. "That's ridiculous!"

Turning to him, Alejandro gave a regretful twist of his lips. "I'm afraid that it isn't so ridiculous. There are certainly plenty of caballeros in the Los Angeles area only interested in furthering the ancient traditions of Spain to cause you plenty of worry." The skin around his eyes narrowed in warning. "You two might as well face facts: there'll be more than enough people disapproving of any union between the de la Vegas and a mere tavern wench who..."

"Victoria's no tavern wench!"

Alejandro took on a conciliatory expression. "Of course not," he agreed with his son. "But that's just one example of the snide talk you'll have to deal with. I've been hearing it for years: the young de la Vega spurning centuries of tradition and values by refusing to do his duty and marry someone of his class."

"Why does it matter who I marry?" Diego instantly demanded. "I'm not a cow on the range to be bartered and sold!"

"It's time to get your head out of your books, my boy," Don Alejandro reprimanded. "There are those who think the only reason to marry is to have children, and those children _must_ further a family's ancestral line. If you and Victoria marry, know that you'll be shunned by any person who's a champion of tradition."

"Nobody who counts would consider shunning either of us," Diego argued.

"But it's something to keep in mind - you're putting an awful burden on Victoria simply by asking her to marry you." Alejandro gave Diego a knowing look. "I just want you to be prepared for that."

Victoria hesitantly suggested, "Maybe it would be a good idea to wait..."

"We've waited for years already!" Diego's scowl carved into his face. "We're not waiting a minute longer than we have to!"

"Just keep in mind that Victoria's going to need extra support, especially at first," Alejandro warned him. "People will be waiting for the marriage to fail, and they'll blame it on Victoria's birth."

Diego blew out a breath. "This is insane."

"This is reality," Alejandro corrected in a hard voice. He turned back to Victoria, his voice softening. "Do you have any other fears?"

"Uh..." She gazed at both men, still unsure. "How do I help run a cattle ranch? Is it alright if I help with the ranching, or is the idea of a woman helping with the ranch something that's frowned upon?"

Diego's eyes lit up. "You want to help with the ranch?" He'd had no idea, since they hadn't discussed the ranch before now.

Alejandro replied before Victoria could. "It will surely be a great disappointment to many caballeros if you show an interest in the ranch: 'That's men's work,' they will say." At Victoria's understanding though clearly disappointed expression, added, "Of course, as my daughter-in-law, if you _don't_ show an interest in the ranch, _I_ will be greatly disappointed. So you'll have to decide what makes you the happiest."

Victoria didn't look any more sure of herself when she asked, "Will I be allowed to cook?"

"My dear," Alejandro said, and leaned forward to touch Victoria reassuringly on her leg, "you'll be the mistress of the house - you can do whatever you want."

Victoria sprang back in the chair, as if she had never thought of it in those terms before. "Oh. Well, I..." Her voice once more thoughtfully trailed off while she gazed at Don Alejandro. Diego fancied he could see the wheels in her mind churning a mile a minute. He loved seeing her so engaged on behalf of his family.

Victoria at last shrewdly asked, "How would you feel if I make some suggestions to improve ranch productivity and profit?"

"I would say that you have to marry my son first before you're allowed to go changing anything," Alejandro immediately stated. "However, I'm perfectly aware of what a good businesswoman you are - if you want changes, I know that you have your reasons. Besides, all you have to do is smile and..." Alejandro instantly grew uncomfortable while Diego knowingly grinned. "Er... smile, yes, and..." The look in his eyes grew exasperated. "Well, Diego knows what I'm talking about!"

"Indeed I do." Diego smirked. "What he's trying to say, Victoria, is that you have every single de la Vega man wrapped around your finger, and all you have to do is..."

"He's trying to say that we all adore you - one shake of your finger and we'll fall at your feet." Alejandro's comment came out droll and dry, but honest. "I'll make no bones about it - half the vaqueros are in love with you, and the other half are too young to know a good thing when they see it. Show some interest in the horses and cattle, and they'll all be yours to command in only a few months."

Victoria's lips quirked in an uncomfortable smile. "I don't want to command anybody."

Alejandro didn't press the issue, but didn't take what he'd said back, either. "My point is that ranching is traditionally a man's domain - it's up to you to change tradition."

Victoria was silent as she digested this information. At last, still undecided as to how to take Alejandro's observations, she turned to Diego. "How many children do you want?"

The question surprised Diego, though it shouldn't have. They'd never had time to discuss anything about this, either. "As many as you can safely have."

"What if that's just one?"

Diego smiled comfortingly at her anxious tone. "Then we have an only child."

Alejandro turned the conversation onto another new topic when he asked, "Have you considered what you're going to do about the tavern, Victoria? Is Diego going to manage it? Are you? That will be difficult if you have children. Do you want to keep it in the Escalante family? Or don't you care?"

"Well, I..." Victoria looked unsure again, as if she hadn't given this much thought, either, when in actuality, it had often kept her awake and fretting until the early hours of the morning. "I guess that one of my brothers can manage it."

Diego firmly said, "It's time those two took on some of the responsibilities in Los Angeles. You've been here, alone, for a long time."

"I don't mind," Victoria quickly negated.

"Nevertheless," Diego insisted, "It's time that those two did something about their birthright for a change. They both ran off with your father years ago, and then didn't bother to make sure that things were alright in Los Angeles before they went glory seeking in the military. Things weren't alright here, and they should be ashamed at the way they left you to deal with things by yourself." He could tell that Victoria was about to protest again, and rushed to say, "Maybe you don't mind, but I do."

Silence again met this epistle until at last Don Alejandro made that same clapping noise again. "Alright, this is good. You're discussing topics that I bet you've never had time to touch on before."

"You're right - we haven't," Victoria agreed. "Talking wasn't exactly high on our list of things to do." Before Don Alejandro could adopt a look that was too disapproving of their earlier behavior, added, "We had so little time together that tavern business wasn't something we wanted to discuss."

After a moment, Alejandro nodded. "Alright. Another thing: I get the impression from several comments that Zorro has made in the plaza that to you, marriage is just another destination, something to strive for, something to achieve."

"Well, isn't it?" Diego inquired.

Alejandro heaved an aggravated sigh. "No, you idiot." Diego did a double take at being called a name, but Alejandro didn't even notice. "Marriage is a partnership, a journey, a sharing of likes and dislikes, a life... not a port of call where you'll disembark the ship to go shopping, but stop when you're tired. Marriage is for life - make sure you really want to do this before making a mistake that can't be undone."

Diego's gaze again landed on Victoria. "There's nothing I'd like better."

"Victoria?" Alejandro prodded. "Speak up now, for you won't get another chance."

Victoria grasped Diego's hand. "I said 'yes' to Zorro, and 'yes' to Diego, and 'yes' is what I meant, for the rest of my life."

Her response brought out a smile from Diego. He leaned in to kiss her as a way of reply... when his father's arm shot out and stopped him.

"From now on, things will be done in the most proper way, whether it's aggravating to you or not." Alejandro looked so serious that even Diego paid attention in spite of his instant annoyance at being hindered. "You'll get enough criticism just because you want to marry - don't invite more."

Slowly, Diego and Victoria nodded in understanding. But rather than address what had already been addressed so eloquently by Alejandro, Diego simply asked the burning question, "But isn't all of this pointless if we can't decide what to do about Zorro first?"

His father's brows lowered in a frown. "What about Zorro?"

Diego glanced at Victoria, then his father, then Victoria, and back again. "We seem to be forgetting the one important point in all of this: Victoria is officially engaged to Zorro, not Diego de la Vega, no matter who does or does not know about it. How do I get rid of him? I can't fight myself for Victoria, as appealing as that sounds, and I won't make Victoria publicly choose between the two men... though they're both me. Any ideas?"

"I could poison Toronado with my hot sauce," Victoria jokingly suggested, but the _woof_ from Toronado's stall area showed that he understood more of her threat than she had expected.

"No," Diego said, still thoughtful. "It has to be something else, something big, aimed at Zorro, not Toronado. Father?"

Alejandro appeared almost too pensive to respond, at last saying, "Give me some time to consider this." He turned slowly back towards the way out of the cave, thinking hard. "Get rid of Zorro, huh? How?"

Diego and Victoria watched him leave. He'd obviously already forgotten the reason he'd come to the cave in the first place.

Amused, Victoria murmured, "I still say that you're afraid of being bored by regular life."

Diego surprised her when he answered, "I say that _you'll_ be bored."

That caught Victoria's attention. "What?"

"No customers, no cooking... unless you want to... no Alcalde to thwart on a daily basis..." Diego shrewdly regarded her. "You'll be bored to death in a week."

Victoria snorted a laugh. "Married to you? Only if you threaten to read poetry to me."

Diego drew her to a standing position, then onto his lap. "Should we start with Shakespeare's Sonnets? Or his plays, maybe?"

Victoria sarcastically eyed him. "If you make me read poetry, then you have to learn to cook."

Diego wryly said, "Toronado may not be the only one poisoned."

Her peels of laughter resounded around the cave as Diego's arms encircled her in a hug that was as impromptu as it was sincere. "You may be 'Zorro's Woman,' but you're _my_ tavern wench."


	11. Chapter 11

Part XI The Confab

Several nights later, Don Alejandro again ripped the blankets off a very sleepy Diego. "Come on, Diego, wake up!"

The sleepy Diego didn't miss how this seemed to be an echo of the night where he'd spoken with Victoria and his father in the cave. "Whatisitthistime?" he slurred out, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

"Darn Felipe and his sleeping remedies!" Alejandro swore, something he normally didn't do, but he was cranky from all these late nights (or early morning) adventures. He wondered how Zorro did it all the time.

Alejandro roughly shook his son's shoulder. "Get up, Diego. I called together the few of us who know about Zorro's identity to discuss how to kill off Zorro. We meet at the mission in half an hour."

Diego could grasp only the bit about killing off Zorro. "If Zorro's dead, I don't have to go." And he went back to sleep.

Completely exasperated, Alejandro propped his hands on his hips as he regarded his sleeping son. He considered throwing water on him, but discarded the idea when he realized all that would do was make for a very soggy bed. He tried coercion instead. "Victoria's in danger - she needs you, Son. Go rescue her."

It worked at least as well as the water would have. Diego jerked up and stumbled to his corner wardrobe, muttering about his clothes being the wrong color. Alejandro almost laughed aloud at how easy it was to motivate Diego when he thought it was truly important.

Thirty minutes later found them and Felipe ambling out of the darkness at the mission. Diego dutifully dismounted from Esperanza, though he didn't quite understand why his father was along on one of Zorro's adventures. He let his father knock twice, then twice more on the mission's side door, followed Felipe and his father and the Padre down a side hallway that he almost recognized, then stumbled into a room that seemed too small to hold all the people present.

The first thing Diego noticed about the room was the bed and Victoria sitting on it. He thought for a brief moment that there should be something strange about this, but he was just too tired to figure out what that was. So he mumbled "Hola," to Victoria sitting on top of the blankets, then promptly curled up with his head on her lap and went back to sleep.

Victoria's exasperated sigh sounded loud in the room, blending with Alejandro's own beleaguered groan when she glanced at him, clearly begging for help.

"Felipe gave Diego another one of those sleeping remedies," Alejandro told her in a dry voice. "It's a miracle he didn't fall off his horse on the way here."

"Just what I thought," Victoria knowingly grunted. "Don Alejandro, will you please pour him a...

"Water?" Alejandro guessed, already grabbing a glass. "I'll get it for you to drip on him - that worked well last time. Just don't let him roll off the bed."

Alejandro poured the water, but the Alcalde took the glass from him. Instead of passing it nicely to Victoria, he threw its contents into Diego's face, hissing in his ear, "Wake up, de la Vega!"

Diego spluttered up from Victoria's lap, spitting water and coughing, wet hair straggling in his eyes.

de Soto set the glass on the room's single desk, grinning. "Oooooh, I enjoyed that."

Victoria lifted a soaked skirt from her now wet legs, fanning it uselessly back and forth as she looked at it, horrified. Turning on the Alcalde in anger, she growled, "Don't show your face in the tavern for at least three days!"

de Soto chuckled at the Señorita's angry expression. "It was worth it!"

Victoria's angry groan filled the tiny room, Diego choked on water, the Alcalde continued to chortle, Don Alejandro moaned in aggravation, and Felipe dropped noiselessly into the desk chair, helpless and clearly hating it.

Then Sergeant Mendoza, the last of the group, slipped into the room.

"Mendoza?" Diego quizzically asked, quickly realizing that the man's presence must mean that the friendly Sergeant knew all about Zorro's identity, too. He gasped, "When did you find out?"

Mendoza gave a jump, noticing Diego sitting next to Victoria on the bed for the first time. "Oh, I've known for years," he answered nervously.

"For years?" Diego's voice had turned faint.

"Don't let that bother you," Mendoza blithely assured him. "I would never have let the lancers hurt you."

de Soto growled low in his throat at those words while Diego gaped at the Sergeant. The lancers had been unsuccessful in shooting and capturing Zorro all these years because..? It had all been due to Mendoza? And all this time, he thought the lancers always missed Zorro because Zorro was so good at avoiding their bullets. But it was because Mendoza was just that good instead. It was another deep blow to Diego's ego. Unable to vocalize the depth of this particular knowledge, Diego didn't say anything because he'd been rendered speechless.

Diego was distracted from his unpleasant thoughts when Padre Benitez bustled into the room, shutting the door behind him. The priest took one look at the room's growling, or beleaguered, or angry occupants, and gave a mournful shake of his head.

"This does not bode well for us," the Padre said, sounding truly aggrieved. Everyone felt guilty enough at his tone to listen without question to the priest. "We're gathered here to help a man in need - unless you have something you wish to share that isn't wet?" And he significantly eyed the Alcalde until even de Soto was hiding his chuckles behind his hand.

"That's better," continued Benitez. "Now, it's only three hours till dawn - let's not waste the time we've been given. We know why we're here - who has something to say?"

Looking around at the people crammed into this priest's cell at the back of the mission, Diego spoke first. "What is this?" Was this group of mismatched individuals really trying to kill..?

Alejandro piped up. "This is the Zorro Fan Club. I already told you - we're here to help Zorro."

"Speak for yourself," de Soto instantly announced, his arms belligerently crossed as he gazed at Diego, muttering, "Help Zorro, indeed."

Coughing, Diego muttered, "Sure, you'll help Zorro - right over a cliff."

Still with that mocking look in his eye, de Soto icily stated, "I'm just here for the thrill of paying back all those bruises and black eyes Zorro's given me over the years." Then he glanced slyly at the glass sitting innocently on the desk. "And for the water."

Rather than let the two combatants truly lay into each other, Padre Benitez pulled once on his rope belt and glared at the two longtime enemies. "I did not get out of bed at three in the morning to listen to you two trade insults!" he chastised. "Now, we're here - we might as well start talking. Any ideas?"

Mendoza tentatively raised his hand as if he was still at the mission's school.

The Padre turned to the Sergeant. "You have an idea, Sergeant Mendoza?"

"Yes," Mendoza said. "Well, no. Well, it's a comment..."

"Spit it out, Sergeant!" de Soto irritably ordered.

Padre Benitez walked right up to the Alcalde and stared him in the eyes. "My goodness, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Surprisingly, the Alcalde glared back, clearly one of the few who refused to be cowed by the priest. "Perhaps if it _was_ morning, I would be in a better mood."

"In the morning, God will reward you accordingly, my son," Benitez calmly announced.

The words, though spoken with equanimity, had an immediate effect. The Alcalde must have realized a darker meaning to the innocuous-sounding comment, for the man quickly blushed, his cheeks burning as red as Victoria's hottest sauce. "My apologies, Padre. I just have a hard time helping Zorro do anything but hang."

"Make that four days!" Victoria exclaimed, huffing.

de Soto's glare took her in as well, then he capitulated when Victoria refused to be frightened by his most malevolent sneer. The day he couldn't reduce a woman to a wriggling mass of terror was the day he gave in. "Alright, alright! I'll stop harassing him... or we'll never get out of here." de Soto dutifully receded into his corner of the room.

Satisfied that the man would remain silent, Padre Benitez turned back to Mendoza. "Sergeant?"

Mendoza fidgeted nervously with his tunic, anxious about being the center of attention. "Yes, well, won't Don Diego have to tell everyone that he's Zorro if he plans to marry Señorita Victoria and make little Zorros?"

Victoria's cheeks instantly blazed red at the personal aspect of the question.

Mendoza shrugged. "You said we should think about the reality of this situation, Don Alejandro. Won't it seem strange if Don Diego suddenly marries Señorita Victoria when she's said for years that she's waiting for Zorro?"

The room's inhabitants gazed at each other, all of them clearly unsure of what to say.

Then Diego spoke. "The Sergeant brings up a good point."

"It _would_ look strange," Victoria agreed.

Sergeant Mendoza added to Victoria, "You _have_ been talking about Zorro for years."

"But what should we do about it?" Alejandro asked.

Benitez looked to Diego, sympathy etched on his face. "I'm sure you've considered this before now."

Diego nodded in agreement, though simultaneously wincing.

Alejandro instantly suggested, "What about a public unmasking?"

Diego immediately added his own caveats to that idea. "But if I publicly unmask, won't every hothead in California be knocking at my door, wanting to duel with a legend?" He glanced at the others as they stared questioningly back. "I could be fighting for the rest of my life!"

Felipe then waved his arms in the signs he and Diego had created years before, speaking so quickly that nobody but Diego had a chance of following him.

As he was used to doing after years spent with Felipe, Diego interpreted, "Felipe points out that if I end up in sword fights for the rest of my life, there's sure to come a time when I make a mistake - he's proved often enough that I'll do that eventually."

The Alcalde balked. "Do you mean this idiot boy can beat you when I've never been able to?"

Felipe turned furious eyes on de Soto, and Diego's face went tight with anger. "This 'idiot boy' can most certainly best me, especially when I'm tired or injured," he insisted. "Be careful, Alcalde, or you'll have more than Zorro to worry about."

Padre Benitez cleared his throat, again capturing everyone's attention. "Er... I'm sure that Diego doesn't wish to put the Señorita through the anxiety of watching you live through endless sword fights... am I right?"

Wordlessly Victoria and Diego nodded.

Victoria added, "And I have no wish to someday become a widow, either."

Looking at them all, Alejandro inquired, "So, what do we suggest?"

Mendoza shrugged. "He could print a flyer, saying that he won't fight anybody, ever."

"But a flyer won't circulate enough to stop _everybody_ ," Alejandro objected.

"Why couldn't Diego simply refuse to fight when these hotheads visit the pueblo?" Benitez naively suggested.

The Alcalde wheezed a laugh. "Because, Padre, most of these hotheads, as Diego so colorfully phrased it, will most likely be outlaws themselves."

"And what outlaw has ever chosen _not_ to fight when they could?" Alejandro finished for him, nodding as he saw the wisdom of this idea.

"Besides," Mendoza added, "even if Don Diego refuses to fight them, they will just use the Señorita to convince him that he _has_ to fight them in order to get her back."

Diego firmly said, "And I won't do that to Victoria."

Alejandro shook his head, and his hair glinted silver in the lantern light. "She'll never be safe... nor anybody else in Diego's family."

"I won't accept that," Diego firmly said. "Living day to day is not the kind of life for me - not anymore - and certainly no kind of life for Victoria."

Felipe waved his arms again, and Diego once more interpreted. "Felipe suggests that we permanently assign a detachment of lancers to protect my family from these future glory seekers."

The Alcalde immediately negated that idea. "Lancers are here for everybody, boy, not just _Zorro_."

The sneer was hardly off de Soto's face before Diego was telling him in a fierce, though nonchalant voice, "He has a name, you..."

The Alcalde instantly capitulated once again. "Alright, alright! I said I'd stop, and I will! No need to get..."

"Getting back to Felipe's idea," Victoria interjected, rather pleased to interrupt de Soto's pontificating, "there's the possibility that Spain won't be in charge of California forever, either. What if the assigned lancers have to pull out in just a few years? Or ten? Or twenty?" She gazed around at the group of silent people standing or sitting in the room. "That isn't enough time to raise a family, anyway, no matter who Diego marries. What happens then?"

"So, no lancers," repeated the Padre. "He could just let Zorro fade away."

Diego quizzically stared at Benitez. "Do you mean that Zorro should just leave? What about Victoria?" He was thinking the Padre's suggestion meant that he let Victoria become an old maid just for safety concerns, but he didn't consider that any better than letting her be used against Zorro.

Benitez further suggested, "Perhaps Zorro and the Señorita should have a public disagreement."

"Do you mean they should break up?" Mendoza asked. He sounded truly devastated by that idea.

However, Alejandro was excitedly gesturing to the ceiling. "So Diego can then marry Victoria in a year or so - great idea, Padre!"

But Felipe was shaking his head back and forth before Don Alejandro's excitement could infect everybody. His wild gestures followed.

"You're right, Felipe," Diego said to him. "Someone will surely not believe that. And then we're right back to where we started, with me fighting every hothead out to make a name for himself."

Silence settled on the group, broken at last by the Alcalde. de Soto jerked upwards, his face suddenly aglow until he was almost unrecognizable. "Or... why not purposely bring these hotheads to one big sword fighting competition, held right here in Los Angeles? If they'll come anyway, as you say, then we should bring them here all at once to..."

"Mi Alcalde," Mendoza nervously cut him off. "How can we control such a large number of swordsmen in Los Angeles all at the same time?"

But the Alcalde had an answer ready. "By promising to give them exactly what they want - we hold a competition, winnow out the bad swordsmen all the way down to a champion..."

"And then?" Diego dubiously inquired.

de Soto eyed Diego with a knowing lift of his brows. "Zorro then fights the winner, where he unmasks - just for the winner, who must sign a decree that he'll hang if he tells."

Diego wasn't convinced. "Hanging isn't much of a deterrent to an outlaw - most of them will hang if they get caught, anyway, and they know it. That still isn't enough to keep them from being outlaws, and I doubt it would be enough to keep them from telling Zorro's identity, certainly not if the price was right."

Alejandro rolled his eyes. "And I'm sure that most any price would be the right price to an outlaw."

"They'll give up something like information for a drink," Victoria added. "I see it all the time in my tavern."

de Soto's eyes darkened at how quickly they had shot down his idea. It never occurred to him that they meant it any way other than personally. His gaze mostly trained on Diego, he growled, "Fine. Don't unmask then. Don't get married. You can fight your entire life, for all I care!" His face turned more red and blotched with each word he spoke. "You said that you wanted ideas, and I gave you one. You didn't take it - that's your prerogative. But I've had enough - I'm going to bed. Good-night." He pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against, strode to the door, yanked it open, then slammed it shut behind him.

"Well," Padre Benitez said into the following quiet. "For a man not wanting to be detected, he's certainly doing everything he can to attract attention."

"He wants to attract attention to me," Diego grimly noted. "I bet he's hoping that even if he's chosen not to capture and hang me, he wouldn't be sorry if somebody else did."

Alejandro slowly ruffled a hand through his hair. " Perhaps he has the right idea, though."

Diego's brow wrinkled in disbelief. "Father?"

"The promise of Zorro's identity would surely draw riffraff to Los Angeles," Alejandro noted, "but it would also push Zorro's identity concerns into the open where we have to deal with them."

"A fencing competition _would_ bring the right minded people to Los Angeles," Mendoza agreed. "Perhaps the Alcalde's idea has some merit."

Nodding, Benitez added, "We must think on this some more."

"I've thought enough!" Diego vociferously objected. "It's a rotten idea! There's no merit to it at all!"

Mendoza shrugged. "The Alcalde is right about one thing, though - you did ask for ideas." He anxiously tugged at the collar of his uniform tunic. "We've had many ideas, yet Don Diego shoots every one of them down."

"Often for good reason!" Diego argued back. "I'd really like to come out of this alive if I can!"

"That's not what I'm saying," Mendoza protested, his voice soft and full of conciliation. "Are you sure that unmasking is what you want to do, Don Diego?"

Diego did a double take. "Of course it's what I want to do!" he replied automatically. "I want to marry Victoria, and I can't do that without unmasking first. I don't see as how I have much choice in the matter."

"Why couldn't Zorro marry Victoria?" the Padre wanted to know. "Here we all are trying to find a way for Don Diego to marry, but maybe we should focus on Zorro marrying the Señorita."

Diego sighed, as if this point should be obvious. "Zorro is an outlaw. If Victoria marries an outlaw, she becomes an outlaw, too. With my luck like it is, she would have a price on her head before the wedding ceremony was even over." He lifted his eyes to bleakly study the others still in attendance. "I don't want to make her an outlaw."

The Padre frowned. "So Zorro marrying the Señorita isn't an option."

Alejandro groaned, and Victoria gave an angry huff of frustration. "There _must_ be some way out of this."

Six aggravated sighs issued into the room from its six aggravated occupants. A dejected silence followed the explosion of air.

"Perhaps de Soto has the right idea about going back to bed," Alejandro at last admitted. "Sleeping will help us see this in a better light."

"I don't see what a little sleep will do for this," Diego crankily said in a quiet voice. "I've been thinking about this for years, and I still haven't figured out what to do about it."

Benitez's sunny smile seemed at odds to the dark moods of the others. "The Lord will show us the way," he benignly said.

The confidence in the Padre's voice was overwhelming. The fact that he still didn't feel convinced was a worry to Diego. Perhaps Mendoza was right, and he really didn't want to unmask? Diego's gaze fell onto Victoria sitting beside him. He knew the price of not unmasking, and instinctively knew that the price was too high; it was time that he kept his original promise to Victoria and married her.

Perhaps that original promise was the true problem? But he had _said_ that he would someday declare his love for Victoria, and he had, just a few days before. So what was really the problem? Did he not want to get married? He could see no other reason why he was having such trouble unmasking.

Maybe Victoria _was_ right; he was secretly worried that he would get bored... but bored being married to Victoria? She was sure to keep him on his toes... though that was certainly different than chasing bandits on a daily basis.

Perhaps he wasn't so much worried that he would grow bored, but worried that he would lose his skills if he didn't chase bandits anymore?

Not giving himself time to think, Diego piped up, "Sergeant, what to do think about this: I unmask, then volunteer - let's say - a few times a week to train the lancers?"

"Train them how?" Mendoza asked, perplexed.

Diego shrugged. "Train them in fencing, in tracking. I know I don't often shoot, but I'm a fairly decent marksman. Perhaps I can help there, too."

"You would do that?" Mendoza inquired in disbelief. "The men could benefit from your expertise, Don Diego!" he exclaimed now that Diego had volunteered. "Could you start next week?"

Alejandro held up a hand. "Hold it. He has to unmask first, or none of this matters, and we haven't figured out how to do that yet."

Diego rolled his eyes in frustration. He couldn't believe that for a moment, he had actually forgotten about the puzzle of unmasking. "Father's right; if Diego starts training the lancers in things like tracking, I'll get laughed out of town! Again, I don't see what choice I have but to unmask."

Victoria put a comforting hand on his arm. "Does anybody have a better idea than the Alcalde's?" she asked them all, her tone desperate. "I'd rather live through one fencing competition than fights with a million people!"

Even Diego balked at the idea of fighting a million times. "Victoria does have a point."

Suddenly Felipe slowly smiled, his eyes trained on the floor.

Diego was the only one who noticed the way the silent young man's face lit up. But he was used to noticing the expressions that crossed Felipe's face. His expressions had often let Diego know that Felipe had yet another diabolical plan to keep Zorro's irons out of the fire. "What's on your mind, Felipe?"

An evil grin abruptly spilled across the mute's features. He held up one finger to indicate that everyone should pay attention. Then he began signing.


	12. Chapter 12

Part XII Prep Time

Diego and Victoria set Felipe's clandestine plan into motion the very next day with an innocent sounding conversation in the tavern at the end of the lunch rush.

"Victoria!" Diego greeted in his higher, affected tones, and sauntered to where she stood behind the bar, meticulously arranging pitchers, bottles, and glasses on the green countertop.

"Diego!" She smiled at him in similar greeting, though she was careful not to smile too warmly. The point of this forced dialogue was to attract the attention of the several customers currently drinking at the bar, not focus too much of that attention on Diego. "Can I get something more for you?" She sent a pointed look towards the table where he had been eating lunch with his father and Felipe.

"Everything was splendid, as always," Diego assured, letting his bland gesture of welcome grow more affectionate for a moment before shutting it down once again. "I merely wanted to tell you that I found Doña Corazon's column this morning where you had slid it under the door of _The Guardian_ office."

"Oh, good. I hope it isn't too late for the next edition of the paper."

"It's not." Diego drank the last swallow of water in the glass he'd carried to the bar with him. "I'd suggest that you tell her she was right on time if you knew who she was. You still don't know this anonymous journalist?"

"I found her column left behind the bar, just like always," Victoria told him, playing along with his minor subterfuge. "I've wondered for years who the mysterious Doña Corazon could be."

"Yes, she guards her identity as closely as Zorro."

Victoria's eyes momentarily suffused with humor. Still playing along, she casually commented, "And speaking of Zorro, I saw him just recently."

Right on cue, Diego's grin slid convincingly off his face. "Trouble?"

"No." Victoria gave a nonchalant shrug. "He'd been out catching bandits, like always, but wanted to see me."

"I'm not so sure that associating on your own with a known criminal is to your benefit, Victoria."

Her exasperated expression said everything that she didn't. "You worry too much, Diego. I'm fine. In fact, we talked about you last night."

"Me?" Diego was surprised, but interested.

Victoria nodded. "He was comparing the bandits he'd just brought in to the few truly good swordsmen he's encountered over the years. He thinks the best swordsman was that English fellow who came to the pueblo..."

"Do you mean Sir Miles Thackery?" Victoria's nod prompted Diego to continue, "But what has he to do with me?"

Victoria leaned comfortably against the bar. "Zorro said that you did surprisingly well against him. Almost as good as you did against the Emissary, I hear."

Diego endeavored to keep his tone light even as his thoughts darkened. "Fighting for one's life tends to make a difference."

Victoria's eyes grew dreamy, as if she had missed the way Diego's mouth tightened at the mention of his brother. "He wants to duel with that Englishman again."

Diego grew alarmed. "Good heavens, why?"

Another shrug accompanied her artless smile. "I guess Zorro enjoys a good fight."

"You'd think the man would get enough of fighting just from the Alcalde."

Victoria giggled at Diego's sarcastic comment. "You would think. Perhaps it's just a good sword fight that he enjoys so well."

"Perhaps," Diego conceded as he leaned against the bar. His next comment appeared to take Victoria completely by surprise. "Whether he loves a good sword fight or not is beside the point - he just better be careful or someone will beat him someday."

"No one can beat Zorro!" Victoria staunchly defended in a loud voice full of anger.

Diego laughed and held up a warding hand. "Easy, Victoria! I don't mean to malign your hero! I'm just saying that the odds are against him."

Her anger visibly receding, Victoria's brow puckered. "Odds?"

"Yes," Diego ingenuously replied, his own enthusiasm for such esoteric things as 'odds' along with a captive audience too much to resist. "It's simply chance that someone hasn't beaten him already."

Victoria's exasperation was back, tenfold. "Didn't I just tell you? No one..!"

The hand was up again. "Yes, I know - Zorro's indestructible. All I came up here for was some more water, not an argument about the merits of our local masked legend." He filled his glass to the brim from one of the pitchers on the counter. "But cheer up - I'm sure Sir Miles will never come back to Los Angeles again."

Victoria's expression turned sardonic. "No, it's not likely. I heard long ago that he was far from here, though still in California."

"Yes, it's too bad," Diego lamented with a shake of his head. "Zorro against Thackery? That's one fight I'd pay to see."

"And one fight that will never take place," Victoria firmly predicted. "Zorro only fights when he has to. He's not some sideshow exhibition."

Diego's irrepressible grin split his features again. "Yes, but what an exhibition!"

"Oh, you!" Victoria's towel snapped at his departing figure.

Diego pondered that conversation as he sauntered back towards his family's table. According to the interest the others at the bar had paid to that conversation, the encounter had gone exactly as he and Victoria had intended.

Z Z Z

And right on cue, only two months, three weeks, and two days later, Sir Miles Thackery dismounted at the tavern's hitching rail, tied his horse, and slowly walked into the tavern, his gaze taking in his surroundings like a hawk.

A moment later, he explained his hawkish gaze away. "Well, nothing's changed around here, I see." His insolent gaze finally landed on Victoria as his nose lifted and wrinkled just as if he'd smelled something thoroughly disagreeable. "Same provincial help, same rustic environment, same boring military." His gaze had now landed on the form of Diego standing right in front of Victoria at the bar. "I wasn't finished, I see - same boring caballeros, too."

 _Why was it that we thought this would be a good idea?_ Diego thought as he was forcefully reminded why he didn't like the Englishman. His arrogance rivaled that of Luis Ramone's. But at least Ramone had had a sense of humor to go along with his arrogance. Thackery had clearly left his sense of humor in England.

Diego instantly straightened in response to the slight that had been given to the tavern, to Victoria, and her clientele. It didn't occur to him that he was being baited, but only saw the need to correct this man's interpretations of what could truly pass as 'provincial' in the territories.

But that lady who was the focus of the insult didn't rise to his insult like Diego had, though her hand did flit out to grip Diego's blue jacketed arm in a restraining hold as if she had an intrinsic understanding of what he was thinking at that moment. "Can I do something for you, Señor?" Her voice sounded as if she'd tired of him already.

Thackery walked slowly up to the bar. "I'd ask for your best room, but I know what awaits in this _establishment."_ His nose wrinkled even more when he said the last word, indicating that the best room at Tavern Victoria was far from the caliber that he was used to. "However, I suppose that it will have to do."

Victoria felt Diego stiffen anew under her hand, but she still refused to respond to Thackery's purposely insolent tone. She therefore smiled all the more sweetly. "I'm afraid that my best room has already been rented for the week. You'll have to do with my second best room."

Her sweet smile definitely had acid overtones now. Anyone who knew Victoria well had long since realized that the sweeter she became, the more afraid the focus of that sweetness should grow.

Victoria reached for the key hanging behind the bar just as Thackery's gaze landed squarely on Diego.

"Ah, Señor de la Vega, is it?" he asked as if just now realizing who he was. His contemptuous gaze raked up and down Diego, and the way Thackery then wrinkled his nose and sniffed, he'd found Diego wanting. "As I recall, we have unfinished business that I would dearly love to finish right now."

A sudden tingle crawled up Diego's spine at those words. He distinctly recalled why Thackery might want to deal with him personally, but a private altercation with the Englishman wasn't part of his plans. Playing dumb, Diego's brows gave an interrogative lift. "Unfinished business?"

Thackery's hand gravitated to the hilt of the sword strapped to his side. "Yes. The last time we met, I believe you were in the process of defending this _woman's_ honor." The way he said 'woman' indicated that a simple tavern wench couldn't possibly have any honor to defend, but it wasn't his business to give a damn. "I, on the other hand, was in the process of ending your life."

Still playing dumb, Diego acted like he was trying hard to recall the event Sir Miles referred to. "Noooooo, I don't remember anything like..."

Out of patience already, Thackery drew his sword and pointed it straight at Diego. "Perhaps this will remind you."

This wasn't part of the plan, either. Hands up in a show of surrender, Diego slowly backed away, his eyes wide. "Truly, Señor, I recall nothing of what you refer to."

Thackery struck Diego on the thigh with the flat of his blade in a stinging blow meant to goad rather than wound. "Then let me refresh your memory: as I recall, you had just sprained your ankle while defending _her_. You've been living on borrowed time ever since." His nose wrinkled again. "That oaf Zorro forced me to leave town before I could collect on my loan." His smile was more smarmy than genuine. "That time is now over." And he whacked his blade against Diego's other thigh.

Diego's hand automatically went to his thigh to rub the bruised area in a soothing motion. Fully goaded now in spite of the fact that he knew better than to give into his emotions, he opened his mouth to reply.

But Victoria beat him to it. "As _I_ recall, that 'oaf' let you leave the pueblo in one piece." Her eyes glittered maliciously. "Perhaps you're still too humiliated to fight him again."

"He'll be the one humiliated when I win."

It was the extreme amount of conceit in the tone that finally wore down Victoria's self control. But just as she was about to let loose a scathing diatribe about the merits of Zorro, Alcalde de Soto intervened.

"And who might you be, Señor?" he icily inquired from behind.

Thackery turned, momentarily distracted from his current prey. "I am Sir Miles Thackery, here on Zorro's personal invitation to fight him. And who might you be?" His barely controlled vanity insulted without effort.

de Soto wasn't easily insulted, however. "I am Don Ignacio de Soto, Alcalde of Los Angeles. And Zorro is nothing but a bandit not worth fighting." He gestured at Diego. "If you are brazen enough to provoke my citizens into useless acts of swordplay, then you are clearly a stranger to these parts - you're duty bound to pay the traveler's tax of five pesos." He waved his hand towards his office in an expansive gesture. "If you will accompany me to my office, my sergeant will...

Thackery's sword swiveled from Diego to poke de Soto in the chest. "You are not the Alcalde."

Anger instantly suffused de Soto's face at that arrogant announcement. "I hate to inform you otherwise, but you are mistaken."

Thackery insolently looked down his long nose at de Soto. "I am never mistaken. You cannot be the Alcalde, as I know the Alcalde, and you look nothing like him."

de Soto's eyes never left Thackery's face. "Alcalde Ramone died in the line of duty two years ago. I have been Alcalde ever since."

Thackery's smarmy smile curled his lips. "Well. Then let me show you how it's going to be." He was in the process of raising the sword to an _en garde_ position when de Soto's hand snaked out to wrap effortlessly around his wrist, stopping him.

"That will be quite enough, Señor." His voice hard, his expression grim, he continued, "Perhaps you are unaware who I am, but I certainly know who you are."

"Then you know you have only moments to live."

de Soto gave a dangerous growl and pulled out his pistol to persuade Thackery of his sincerity. "No, _you_ have moments to pay my tax, or go to jail. Which is it to be?"

A brief silence filled the tavern as all eyes riveted to the drama playing out near the bar. Diego heard nothing but his heart beating a painful rhythm in his ears as Thackery sized up de Soto, then sized up his pistol, clearly finding them both more worthy opponents than the caballero he'd just challenged.

Again de Soto threw his arm out in a gesture towards his office. "After you."

Subdued for the moment, Thackery gave in. Resheathing his blade, he contemptuously said to Diego, "Tomorrow morning Señor. 10:00. Hide, and I will find you. Run, and I will find you. After I torture you, I will kill you. Fight like a man, and I will only kill you." Then his nose as high in the air as ever, he preceded the Alcalde from the tavern.

de Soto pushed his pistol through his belt and followed, but only after sending a furious glance in Diego's direction, promising swift retribution for such an obviously ill-advised invitation.

Successfully chastised, Diego watched them go.


	13. Chapter 13

Part XIII More Plans

A duel between Diego and Sir Miles had never been part of the plan. A duel between Sir Miles and Zorro was what Felipe had suggested that night at the mission. The plan was that Zorro meet Sir Miles in a sword fight, be disarmed, then Sir Miles could claim that he was the only one that wasn't an outlaw to ever beat Zorro, and thus, end up being plagued with the future hotheads that Diego was sure would show up. Diego hadn't anticipated that when Zorro had offered the man an invitation to fight, Sir Miles would remember their unfinished duel, and would want to finish it - his way. But Diego couldn't possibly fight Sir Miles. Such a fight would inevitably expose his fencing skills, and then where would he be? It had been pure luck that he had managed to hide such skills from a swordsman as masterful as Sir Miles that time they'd fought years before. Diego knew that kind of luck was very fickle; to rely on it a second time would be nothing short of extreme folly.

"I don't know, Felipe," he sighed in defeat later that night. "When you outlined this idea at the mission, it seemed so simple."

Felipe's hands waved through the air.

Diego gave a grim smile. "Yes, it would be foolish of me to fight Sir Miles; I can hide my skills for a time, but throughout an entire duel? Besides, he promised to kill me. My death is hardly conducive to Zorro fighting him later that same day." He ran his fingers through his hair. "This situation is intolerable!"

Felipe's hands waved anew.

"That's the ironic part, isn't it?" Diego's smile showed through his agony for an instant. "If I'd just kept my mouth shut, we could have thought of something else that..."

An insistent pounding on the door cut him off. His lowered brows illustrated that he wasn't expecting anyone, and the looks on his father's and Felipe's faces said the same. He rose to answer the knock, but Felipe's hand bade him to sit back down as he strode towards the door instead.

"Be careful!" Don Alejandro admonished in a whisper just as Felipe reached the foyer.

They were all surprised when Victoria Escalante burst through the door before Felipe could even reach it.

"Señorita!" Diego exclaimed, relieved that their visitor was her and not Sir Miles. He rose in greeting.

She impatiently pushed him back down. "I've got a plan."

"Another plan?" It was obvious just from Diego's dubious expression how this concept didn't particularly thrill him. "No offense, Victoria, but..."

"Just listen!" she hissed. Losing no time with being polite, Victoria pulled up the bench from the piano and, leaning in, whispered the idea that had been percolating at the back of her mind all afternoon.


	14. Chapter 14

Part XIV Duel

The plaza was more than full the next morning by nine o'clock. By nine-thirty there were boys lounging on the mission roof so they wouldn't miss out on any of the promised excitement, and more boys had begun climbing from the tavern's outdoor balcony to its roof, where their view would be as good as their compadres' at the mission. There was so much jockeying to get the best viewing position that the Alcalde finally had to order the lancers to form a ring around the plaza, isolating Sir Miles in a circle of humanity. Diego would have no trouble finding his dueling opponent - if he ever showed up, that is.

But de le Vega's arrival to that fight had obviously been delayed. de Soto's familiar wheezing bark of laughter sounded loud in the growing quiet. "He probably decided to change his clothes at the last minute," he derided, his voice ringing with disapproval. "As if it matters what he wears when he loses." He had chosen to back the myth that Diego was incapable of any violent action, including fighting of any kind, and was going about that backing with relish. He leaned in to Sergeant Mendoza next to him, and was only half jesting when he whispered, "I wonder how de la Vega will get out of this one!"

The Alcalde's chuckle caused Mendoza to wince beside him. Don Diego was a friend of his. So was Zorro, for that matter. It made no difference to him that the two men were actually the same person. It made even less difference that one of them was a notorious bandit who'd evaded governmental reprisal for years. His military side wasn't nearly strong enough to overpower the friend in him right at that moment. Both were quailing. The last thing he wanted was to listen to his superior officer expound on the many ways that Diego was most likely going to die in the next hour.

But that death didn't take place because the duel didn't take place. Ten o'clock turned into ten fifteen, then ten-thirty. By this time, Sir Miles was losing what little patience he had. "Where the blazes is he? What does he expect me to do - wait around all day?" He scanned the crowd until he located Victoria standing nervously at its edge. "You - tavern girl - the reason I'm even standing here in the hot sun - where is your _protector_?"

Anger instantly suffused Victoria's face. "We're standing in the hot sun because of you!" she scathingly reminded him. "And how should I know where Diego is? I'm not his keeper!"

Sir Miles was not amused by such quick defiance, especially coming from a female. "How the devil am I going to have time to meet Zorro when..?"

"There he is!" one of the boys sitting on the mission roof abruptly yelled, pointing to the South.

"de la Vega, come to his own funeral!" The Alcalde laughed his delight.

"No," hollered the boy. "It's Zorro!"

"Zorro?" sneered Thackery. "I fight de la Vega right now. He'll have to wait his turn!"

Just then, Toronado loped around the mission and through the parted crowd. Sitting easily astride the half wild horse, Zorro jauntily saluted those to his left and his right, looking for all the world like he was going to an afternoon picnic.

He gave a particular salute in de Soto's direction, acknowledging the promise the man had earlier made. "I thank the Alcalde for today's amnesty - without it, there would be no fight, now or ever."

This announcement did nothing but confuse Sir Miles. "What fight? I'm here to kill de la Vega... what are you talking about?"

Toronado finally entered the lancer's circle surrounding Sir Miles, and Zorro pulled the mighty stallion to a stop. Ignoring Sir Miles completely, Zorro kept his gaze trained on the people in the crowd. "Please forgive my tardiness; Don Diego was surprisingly stubborn when I tried to talk him out of coming to this duel."

Thackery bristled. "This duel is a matter of honor - how dare you interfere!"

Finally acknowledging Sir Miles, Zorro gestured to himself. "Interfere? I wouldn't dream of it! I'm only here at Toronado's insistence."

Thackery gave a disdainful sniff. "Your horse is of no consequence."

Toronado's snort exploded into the silence, and he enthusiastically pawed at the plaza dust.

"Now you've done it," Zorro regretfully commented. "I won't be responsible for Toronado's injured pride."

Again came a Thackery sneer. "I'm here to kill de la Vega - either bring him here, or leave."

Zorro gave a dramatic sigh as he shifted, making the tooled leather saddle creak and groan. "I can't leave. I also can't bring Don Diego."

Thackery's nose lifted arrogantly into the air. "If he thinks these cowardly ways will convince me to cancel our duel, he's sadly mistaken."

Zorro sent a mysterious glance in Victoria's direction, then vaulted from the saddle. "He's not avoiding, he's tied up - literally. I tried to persuade him not to come today - he would surely just kill you - I didn't want a death on his conscience."

"Kill me?!" Sir Miles laughed in incredulity. "I think not! The last I remember, his skills with a sword were just short of deplorable."

The wrinkle of consternation that creased Zorro's masked forehead wasn't lost on the gathered throng. "That's what I was afraid you would think." The remorse in his voice sounded entirely genuine. "I regret to inform you that during your sword fight before, he was just toying with you."

Thackery's surprise was sudden. "Toying with me?"

"You're lucky he chose to do that, and not kill you out right," Zorro disclosed. "I had to knock him out and tie him up just so that he wouldn't come here and kill you today."

Laughter burst from the crowd. de Soto doubled up with it. "de La Vega - a _killer_? That's quite a joke!"

Zorro looked in bemusement at all the laughing people - the merry peasants, the peons, the chuckling caballeros, Sir Miles in the throes of hilarity.

de Soto was still doubled over. "The idea of Diego... a swordsman!" Another wheeze floated across the plaza.

Zorro's look of perplexity grew. "I thought you knew."

de Soto cleared his throat of his merriment. "The only thing I know is that his absence is just another illustration that the man is stupendously worthless!"

Zorro's jaw tightened imperceptibly. It was a good thing that de Soto had claimed he would perpetuate the myth of 'idle Diego,' or Thackery wouldn't be the only one Zorro would fight that day. As a result of his emotional reaction, no matter how brief, his voice came out hard and biting. "That 'worthless man' can carve you into pieces in minutes."

All his comment did was make everybody laugh again, de Soto most of all. "The only thing on Diego's mind is _poetry_."

Thackery jeeringly added, "He can barely hold a sword!"

Zorro's seeming confusion increased, his gaze darting between Thackery, the Alcalde, and back. "Just because he chooses not to condone the use of weapons and action doesn't mean he can't fight."

The two men's dismissive laughter stopped, and Thackery demanded, "Are you implying that Diego de la Vega is..?" His voice trailed off as his disbelief mounted.

Zorro nodded. "He's a master swordsman."

Instead of having the astounding effect that Zorro clearly anticipated, this startling news caused the opposite: the gathered crowd laughed again, Thackery and de Soto the loudest. Except for the few who already knew his identity, general disbelief met him on all sides.

It was a credit to Diego that his persona of the indolent caballero be so complete, but for the first time, Zorro wondered if perhaps he hadn't gone too far to separate the two sides of himself? Diego had come to the aid of practically every family present in the plaza at one time or another - when had the affability of the people so turned into such complete disrespect?

Zorro's gaze once more alighted on Thackery, and he suddenly understood that man's expression of smug superiority; the people were too afraid that they would be next if they didn't deride de la Vega along with the man holding a sword on the pueblo's pulse beat. Thackery was a much bigger threat that de Soto had ever been, for Thackery had no trouble with killing the people who bothered him. In comparison, de Soto was a mere irritation.

The fact that Thackery was only in Los Angeles at Zorro's invitation further galled the outlaw. Zorro shifted his shoulders to make his cape ripple menacingly in the wind. "Let me put this another way." His sword leaving its sheath made a satisfying ring echo across the plaza, but instead of fighting with it, he held it high overhead so everybody could see it. "Don Diego won this sword when he bested our own fight master in Madrid. He let me borrow it when I followed him from Spain to California, but on the condition that I would only use it in the cause of justice - never to kill." A smile slowly leaked from one corner of his mouth to the other, and he stared meaningfully at Thackery. "Though I assure you it's most able to do so."

The disbelief in Thackery's voice couldn't be more complete than if he faced a thousand swords. "You expect me to believe that this poet can best me?"

"No. I don't expect such a simpleton to believe the truth when it smacks him in the face." Zorro's voice rang with sincerity. "However, I do expect you to believe that just because a man _can_ fight with a sword doesn't mean that he _must_ fight with a sword." His gaze strayed then from Thackery to his father sequestered at one end of the ring that had formed around the combatants.

Don Alejandro didn't miss the subtle message that his son was sending him, and he didn't pretend to misunderstand it, either. His tan blanched near the edges of his eyes, but that was all. Except for the whitening, the aging don didn't react at all.

Thackery reacted for them both. "Very philosophical. I expected less subtlety from a bandit. But I believe that _woman's_ honor is in question," and gave a swift flick of his wrist in Victoria's direction.

In a reaction equally as swift, Zorro effortlessly swung his sword around to point unwaveringly at Thackery's throat. "The Señorita's honor is without question. It is clearly you that has none." And for the first time, Zorro disregarded the traditional salute to attack first.

His sword a blur of Toledo Steele, he slashed down to meet Thackery's blade in the first ringing lunge of combat. Thackery instinctively parried. "I see even the mighty Zorro has feelings," he remarked, insolent as ever.

Calm in spite of the vocal jab, Zorro coldly eyed his opponent. "Of course I have feelings. I simply know when to control them."

In a brilliant show of that control, Zorro pressed unerringly forward. Managing to look bored, Thackery met him blow for blow.

They fought first forward, then back, then sideways, the dust of the plaza clouding the air. The only sound was the clang of metal, the occasional male grunt, or the nervous murmur from the gathered crowd. Even the birds were silent, as if they too were watching the fight unfold.

Once he had fully taken the measure of the man he was fighting, Zorro gave a feint to the side, backpedaling instead of the more expected move in the other direction. Thackery followed a second later, but the feint had done its job - to unsettle the Englishman just slightly. Now rattled and jittery, as if he'd drunk too much coffee, Thackery would anticipate another such move, as Zorro intended.

But that move didn't come, any more than Don Diego did. Eventually Thackery feinted to the side as well, but the move lacked the finesse that Zorro's had. Another lunge almost disarmed the Englishman, who recovered with atypical speed to attack anew.

Zorro sloughed the forceful attack aside, and once again lunged to disarm the Englishman. Again, Thackery recovered.

But not in time to avoid the flash of wrist and sword in a sudden swipe that pushed him back instead of the more expected third attempt to disarm him. Thackery's expression of bored insolence wavered.

In a thoroughly unexpected move, Zorro turned to take in the lancers and people surrounding them. His tone academic, as if this was a fencing lesson in the courtyard at the University of Madrid, Zorro stated, "You see, pricking any emotion will give you an advantage, no matter how brief."

Illustrating the brevity of that advantage, Thackery's next attack was as menacing as it was swift. "Even these fools aren't fooled by a bandit's ravings!"

But Zorro remained ungoaded. "I merely repeat the wise words of Don Diego."

Thackery lunged, and Zorro had to step back as he thrust the sword aside. His voice filled with disbelief, Thackery contemptuously accused, "You'd have us believe that _poet_ is your mentor!"

Zorro's unhappy sigh filled the plaza. "Not anymore."

Thackery's intended insult was lost in the murmurs of the crowd, making his impudent barking laugh even more jarring. "Gave up, did he?"

"No." Zorro's masked expression saddened, though only half of it was visible. "My older brother... died." He didn't dare turn to see how the Alcalde was taking that embellishment of the truth. He dared not glance at Don Alejandro, either. "I have been ordered back to Spain. I leave this afternoon." A blink of a suspiciously wet eye was the only sign of upset.

Loss billowed across the plaza, the crowd swelling with it. _Leaving_! it gasped on a shattered breath. Zorro couldn't leave! Who would protect them? Who would give them justice? Who would..?

Zorro's sword again clashed with Thackery's as he correctly guessed the people's thoughts. "You must protect yourselves," he called, ignoring his adversary beyond halting his sword.

Frustrated, Thackery thrust him back. "In ten seconds, I'll finish you! One, two, three..."

Zorro spoke again before Thackery counted 'four.' "Zorro is more than just a person - he's an idea. Justice will come if you ask for it. _Anybody_ can be Zorro!"

A familiar earsplitting scream suddenly arrested Thackery's next lunge. All eyes jerked away to goggle at a site even more enthralling than the two combatants. On the outskirts of the pueblo, far out of range of musket balls, sat another Zorro, jauntily astride another Toronado. This second Zorro cheerfully saluted them from the brim of his hat when the eyes of the crowd turned to gape at him. They watched as he galloped away.

And then, another animalistic scream filled the pueblo. Heads whipped around in the other direction, gasps filled the air, turning into a loud rumbling as a third Zorro on a third Toronado careened from behind the mission and saluted in the same way. This third Toronado reared, his front hooves pawing the empty air, his crash back to Earth sounding like thunder echoing across the plaza. Horse and rider then galloped away in a spate of swirling dust.

Three Zorros? How was that possible? Confused chaos reigned, the fight that everybody had jockeyed to see forgotten.

Zorro refocused that wandering attention with a mighty swipe of his sword. Undistracted, Thackery responded with a parry, and a swipe of his own. "From what I hear," Thackery impudently stated to Zorro, "you will want that _woman_ to accompany you. Good - two stones in my shoe will..."

"No," Zorro sadly interrupted. "Victoria has decided her life is here. I go home alone." The bleak defeat in Zorro's voice was unmistakable as his gaze turned to Victoria for just a second.

That second was all that Thackery needed. He lunged, feinted, sideswiped, feinted again, and a flick later, disarmed the masked man. Zorro seemed as surprised by this astonishing outcome as everybody else.

A second later, Thackery struck to plunge his blade straight through Zorro's heart, ending his need to return to Spain. At the same instant, Zorro recovered his shock at being unexpectedly disarmed to sweep up his cape in his suddenly free right hand and wrap it around Thackery's sword to redirect the lunge and push the blade aside. In the next blink, Zorro had mercilessly ripped the offending sword from the thoroughly astonished Englishman's grasp. Eyes showing a fury barely held in check, he extricated the sword from what was left of his satin cape and coldly regarded the foreigner, panting. A frozen moment went by as the two gazed at each other in a silence broken only by pounding heartbeats.

That smothering quiet ended when Zorro disdainfully dropped Thackery's sword into the plaza dust, where it rolled to rest alongside his. He coldly regarded the Englishman. "I'm disarmed. So are you. I'm leaving California. So are you. If you don't, Don Diego will hear of it, and act accordingly." The familiar cocky grin lifted his lips. "And if he does have to go after you, he won't let his promise stop him from killing you. He'll simply make sure to use a different sword."

The final threat given, Zorro wheeled, leaving the two swords nestled in the dirt, and jumped onto his Toronado's waiting back. "Remember!" he called to the stunned crowd. "You don't need me in your fight for justice. What you need is each other!" Toronado screamed when Zorro whirled him around, then they were gone in a shroud of choking dust.

Everyone watched the masked legend ride furiously out of Los Angeles for the last time. Silence reigned as dust settled, and no one moved.

Abruptly urged to motion by some hidden source, the crowd surged forward to bid their defender goodbye. They flowed around Thackery until he was caught in the tide and pulled along with them. He watched too as Zorro disappeared into the haze of legend.

Forgotten by everybody, the two swords lay snug in the dust where Zorro had left them. Unseen, a figure strolled from the alley next to the blacksmith shop. The teeming crowd ignored him, as usual, as did the lancers left to guard them. The Alcalde, who rarely noticed him, returned with an air of distracted quiet to his office. His Sergeant rubbed his belly like it ached, his eyes trained in the opposite direction.

Dressed once again in the suit of servitude that made him blend so effortlessly into any crowd, Felipe walked casually into the former dueling area to pluck Zorro's famous sword from its bed of dust. With as little effort, he hid the sword in a prepared swath of material, then melted into the gathered crowd to slip into the tavern. Like Zorro, he and the famous sword simply vanished.

Epilogue

Diego grimaced into the emptiness of Zorro's secret cave, his mind still dwelling on the final sighting of Zorro that he had just lived through.

That scene had been a performance, and it had felt like it. When had Zorro become less about justice, and more about performing for the crowd? Diego ruminated that it was clearly time to let go of Zorro if he'd become nothing more than entertainment to the citizens. Oh, his special brand of justice had been welcome, there was no doubt about that. The lancers owed him several years worth of salary for doing their jobs, if nothing else.

Diego thought about how the fact that his father owned a ranch had assisted with their last-minute plan. By currently having several black mounts in the stable, they'd been able to convince two trusted vaqueros to dress in black and pretend to be Zorro at the appropriate moments. They had succeeded in distracting the crowd better than Diego had anticipated, making it easy to deliver the message that they were so helpfully illustrating.

But as Diego took one last look around Zorro's hidden cave before he and Felipe began dismantling it tomorrow, he knew that being Zorro had never been 'easy,' and he carried the scars from Zorro's many injuries to prove it. He had been shot, cut, sliced, punched, and stabbed more often than any man had a right to survive. His ribs had been broken so often that now they were permanently misshapen, forming an open-ended square rather than the more typical semicircle.

Even now, his right arm above the elbow throbbed where Thackery's sword had unexpectedly ripped through his cape to slice across his bicep. Slight though that cut was, it had needed stitches, and was sure to give him another 'war wound.' He decided to hide it, but to wear it proudly, just as he did with Zorro's other numerous injuries. Only, this injury was Zorro's last, and to Diego, that made all the difference.

With satisfaction, Diego checked on Toronado one last time, then left the cave. He and Felipe planned to reward the horse for years of good service by retiring him among the mares in the North pasture, but that wouldn't be until tomorrow.

Right now, it surprisingly didn't pain him as much as he thought it would to no longer be Zorro. More astonishing even than that, a hesitant truce now existed between Diego/Zorro and the Alcalde where none had been before. de Soto's obvious regret at killing his enemy's brother had kindled an unforeseen avalanche of emotion in him.

The term 'avalanche' was perhaps an exaggeration. Then again, Diego reflected, he _was_ considering Ignacio de Soto here - any kind of emotional reaction regarding Zorro other than crazed anger was an improvement.

No longer did Diego have to ceaselessly worry about eventual discovery. His secret had been uncovered by such a variety of people that it would take him days of thinking to discover all that it meant for him.

Felipe knew, of course, and now so did his father. These last four weeks of being free not to skulk around and make excuses for his sudden disappearances made him wonder why he hadn't disclosed his secret to his father years before. His doubts as to his father's abilities to hold himself in check on the occasions he saw Zorro had proven to be entirely unfounded. Don Alejandro had been the height of discretion those four weeks, focusing more on helping Zorro as much as he could, even if the only help possible was his silence. The sorrow of losing a son he hadn't known existed had unexpectedly kept Zorro's importance in perspective as well.

Sergeant Mendoza's aid had been worth more to Diego than he could ever repay, no matter how many lunches he bought the man. He'd been the single lancer bent on Zorro's continued existence, whether Diego had known about it or not. He had been the one who had constantly convinced the ever-changing lancers to continually avoid hurting Zorro, whether they were chasing him, hunting him, shooting at him, or fighting him. As long as Diego was alive, Mendoza would always have a place at the de la Vega hacienda when he retired from the military. It made no difference to Diego if Mendoza was married or not, or had children or not. There were plenty of rooms available for whoever wanted them. Even if Mendoza wasn't one to want them in the future, the offer was always there - Diego would make sure of it.

The Padre's knowledge probably least affected him, Diego realized. If he had ever intended to do anything with the fact that he'd known Zorro's secret identity for years, it would have transpired. Diego was glad that it hadn't; he got too much joy out of his encounters with the priest to change now... though the two would undoubtedly share a common love for owls from now on.

Most importantly of all, he would finally get to marry and be with Victoria. Oddly enough, that thought didn't frighten him the way it had just the day before. Victoria had proven to be a much more crafty ally than he had expected. With an instigation from de Soto, and simplification from Felipe, the entire plan to bring Thackery to town, and then what to do with him once he got here had been her doing. She claimed to have thought of the plan to get rid of Zorro in only an afternoon, but Diego understood strategy if he understood anything, and he knew how long it took to refine the details of even the simplest plan. He'd been right to some extent in anticipating her anger at discovering Zorro's identity, but that emotion had been short lived, especially for Victoria. He should have trusted her with his secret long ago.

None of his revelations had gone as he'd expected. The Padre was perhaps the most benign, Victoria, Mendoza, and his father the most useful, and de Soto, the most surprising. Best of all, Zorro was gone, leaving Diego with the means to stop the ineffectual caballero persona he had created for himself. He was now reputed to be a master swordsman, whether he chose to use his skills or not. And to top it all off, he wouldn't have to spend the rest of his days looking over his shoulder for bounty hunters, or dueling with the odd swordsman who just wanted to make a fast reputation for himself. Thackery had the notoriety of being the one man in California who wasn't wanted by the law to purposely disarm Zorro, and he had been hounded out of the territory. With any luck, Zorro would be a distant memory by Christmas.

Diego was very contentedly relaxing in a chair in the library, reading a book he had wanted to read for ages, when Don Alejandro and Felipe burst through the door.

"Diego!" Seeing his son's relaxed attitude, Alejandro immediately breathed in relief. "I was worried that being disarmed had bothered you somehow."

This truly puzzled Diego. "Bothered? Why?"

"Well." Alejandro shrugged, at a loss. "That must have been a blow to your ego. This is the first time that Zorro's ever been disarmed, isn't it?"

Diego tried to hold his laughter in, knowing that his father's ideas merely stemmed from naivete rather than some form of rampant denial, but it burst out of him in spite of his efforts. "No!" he laughed. "This is..." His eyes turned to Felipe. "How many times have you disarmed me, Felipe?"

Felipe thought about that while Diego continued. "Plus, there was the occasional lucky bandito who beat the odds, a time or two with each alcalde, I accidentally dropped my sword twice, it was knocked from my hand by a crazed steer, and once it landed in the fire and was too hot to pick up for several minutes... I really had to improvise that time."

"All that?" Alejandro exclaimed, stunned. "And here I thought you never did anything more strenuous than write poetry!"

Diego dropped his book to his lap with an exasperated huff. "Why does everybody think that writing anything is easy? Tell me, have you ever written anything harder than a letter?"

The question made Alejandro scowl. "Oh, you know what I mean!"

"Actually, no, I don't." Diego growled low in his throat. "Sometimes, I truly do not understand you."

"I don't understand you, either," Alejandro testily remarked. "That's the way it is with parents and children." Just as suddenly as the argument had begun, Alejandro changed the subject. "Now, Victoria's on her way over so we can discuss how to get the two of you together in the shortest time possible." He looked expectantly at his son.

Diego groaned, knowing what was coming next, his particular skills completely useless against such enthusiasm.

Don Alejandro's expectant grin creased his face, and he clapped his hands with relish. "Grandchildren, Diego!" he took great joy out of demanding. "I want grandchildren!"

The End


End file.
